


The Robin & The Canary

by FreedomWhistle



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: ...kind of, Bruce is a lowkey sass king, Conner's an adorable bean, Dick and Reese are adorable, Dick and Reese are dumb, Dick's objectivity, F/M, Family Issues, Friends to Lovers, Jealous Dick Grayson, M/M, Magic, Misunderstandings, Multi, Mutual Pining, Originally Posted on Wattpad, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Reese and Artemis are a brotp, Romani Dick Grayson, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Stan Dad!Oliver Queen, Team as Family, Wally West is a Good Friend, Wally playing Matchmaker, Wally's a mediator in all of this, What objectivity?, Young Justice Season 1, Young Justice Season 2, Young Justice Season 3, beta'ed by Grammarly and my perfectionist brain, but it takes an entire season pretty much, not that slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 28
Words: 223,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27565999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreedomWhistle/pseuds/FreedomWhistle
Summary: All it took was some unpaid protection money, and a boy's entire family fell to their deaths.All it took was a fired employee, and a girl's home went up in flames.-----Four years ago, Rhysalin Michaels-Queen lost her biological parents and baby sister in a dreadful house fire. After spending an entire year on the streets of Star City, she was found and taken in by Roy Harper, Green Arrow's new protege, Speedy.Being trained by both Green Arrow and eventually Black Canary, Reese learned how to protect herself, how to use a bow and arrow, and how to control her own meta-powers.When a meeting at the Hall of Justice goes south, Silverbird, along with Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, embarks on a journey none of them could have expected.And, it doesn't help when the boy that Reese saw swinging from the trapeze all of those years ago, is the same vigilante with a weird habit of taking prefixes off of words whom she sees and interacts with every day.Sooner or later, feelings, romantic ones, that is, are bound to pop up. But, whether or not they're reciprocated is a whole other story.
Relationships: Artemis Crock & Dick Grayson & Kaldur'ahm & Kon-El | Conner Kent & M'gann M'orzz & Wally West, Artemis Crock/Wally West, Barbara Gordon/Original Male Character(s), Dick Grayson & Wally West, Dick Grayson/Original Female Character(s), Dinah Lance/Oliver Queen, Jason Todd & Original Character(s), Kaldur'ahm/Wyynde (DCU), Kon-El | Conner Kent/M'gann M'orzz, Tim Drake/Original Female Character(s), Wally West & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 54





	1. Prologue I: Up In Flames

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this on Wattpad in January, but I figured it was high-time I transferred it over to AO3. This will encompass the entire series of Young Justice, along with what I will interpret to happen within the five-year gap. 
> 
> I created Reese and her powers on my own, so please, if you wish to use her, for whatever reason, please ask my permission.

**S T A R C I T Y**  
**August 27** , **20:00 PDT**  
**FOUR YEARS AG** **O**

The young girl crept into the small bedroom, where the walls were painted canary-yellow and small, mural-like clouds adorned them. On the far side of the room was a baby's crib, a mobile hanging above it, spinning slowly as a soft lullaby rang through the room.

Peering up over the top of the crib, the eight-year-old brunette stared down at her little sister, who was a little more than seven months old, sleeping soundly with a blue security blanket wrapped around her while a white pacifier was inside her mouth, quieting her cries.

Leaning down, the baby's older sister lightly ran her fingers over the small teddy bear plush that her sister held tightly in her tiny fist.

Suddenly, there was the sound of someone lightly clearing their throat behind her, and the brunette spun around, only to see her mother standing in the doorway, a small smile curling her lip as she observed her only two children.

"I believe, baby bird, that it is way past your bedtime," Though her voice was stern, there _was_ a hint of amusement in the older woman's voice. Either way, it made her oldest daughter pout.

" _Mama_ , can I _please_ stay up a bit longer?" she asked, clasping her hands together, almost begging. "I'll be nine when Christmas comes anyway. Then I can stay up as late as I want. And I want to stay up with Lauren for a bit,"

Lorelai Michaels walked forward and set a hand on her daughter's shoulder, giving the brunette a small smile.

"You're already growing up so fast, baby bird," Lorelai said softly, kneeling down in front of Reese with a soft smile. "But, even magnificent eagles need their beauty sleep,"

Reese, still a bit put-out, grumbled, crossing her arms, but complied with her mother's wishes anyway, lightly pecking her sister's forehead before following the older woman out into the hall of their Star City apartment.

"Do you think I'll see Green Arrow tonight?" Reese whispered as her mother tucked her in, turning to stare out her window at the skyline of Star City.

Lorelai chuckled. "You might," she said quietly, before tugging Reese's light gray quilt up to her chin. "Now," she continued. "Sleep, my magnificent eagle. Tomorrow, you, your sister, and I can go and get some ice-cream, okay?"

"Chocolate Swirl?" Reese mumbled, already falling asleep to the sound of her mother's voice. As it were, Lorelai laughed softly, running her fingers through her daughter's hair.

"Of course,"

Just before Reese finally fell asleep, her brown eyes landed on a framed poster that hung on the opposite wall of her bedroom.

"Do you think that boy's okay?" she asked quietly, burrowing deeper into her blanket as she met her mother's gaze. "The one from the circus,"

Lorelai sighed. Months ago, their family had needed to go across the country to Gotham City for one of Reese's father's " _business trips_ ".

The actual work had been done in Washington D.C., but after, before they got on a plane to go back to Star City, Reese's father, Derrick Michaels, had thought it would be a good idea to attend a circus that had been in Gotham the same night.

What a disaster that had been...

Something, it seemed, had gone horribly wrong with the circus' trapeze act, and almost the entire troupe had fallen to their deaths.

The only survivors were a boy, just a little bit older than Reese herself, and who seemed to be his uncle, though it seemed like he was now paralyzed.

Reese had met the boy before, but there hadn't even been enough time to talk for her to get his name before the show started.

After his parents fell, Lorelai's daughter had wanted to comfort the boy, to say that everything was going to be alright, but both Lorelai and Derrick had tugged their children away, not wanting them to see the carnage.

Ever since Reese had been prodding and poking at her parents for information about the boy, to see if he was all right.

Despite their best efforts, though most of it was just to humor Reese, Lorelai and Derrick had found nothing.

At least, that was what they had told their daughter.

Finally, Lorelai spoke. "I'm sure he's fine, baby bird. The people in the circus look after each other, I'm positive someone took him in,"

"Okay..." Reese began softly, nustling into her pillow again. "Goodnight, Mama,"

"Sweet dreams, my srebŭrna ptitsa," With one last kiss against Reese's forehead, Lorelai switched off her oldest daughter's bedroom light, though it was still slightly lit by the nightlight that was plugged into a nearby outlet.

Softly shutting the bedroom door, Lorelai stood in front of it for a moment, leaning her head against the doorframe, before the voice of her husband caught her attention.

"Does she still not remember?" Derrick asked quietly, nursing a mug of coffee inside his hands, his dark blond hair mussed from his frequent habit of running his fingers through it when he was stressed.

Lorelai shook her head. "No, all she cares about are the Graysons, and what happened to their son,"

"Do you _know_ what happened to the youngest?" Derrick asked, but Lorelai only gave him a dry look.

"I told you before, it looks like Bruce Wayne has taken him in. The man, despite his playboy tendencies, is an active philanthropist in Gotham City. He'll be fine,"

"That's not all you're worried about though, is it?" Derrick asked, and Lorelai whipped around, eyes blazing with righteous fury.

"You had no right to put our daughter through what you did!" she whisper-shouted, careful not to let either of her daughters overhear.

It may have only been four months, but it was no telling how soon it would be before Reese's now-enhanced senses showed themselves. Or her other abilities.

"It was the only way to ensure that the project was a success," Derrick tried to reason with his wife, but Lorelai was not having it.

"It was the only way to ensure you kept your _job_ ," she shot back, and Derrick heaved a sigh.

"That's not true, Lorelai, and you know it," he said wearily. "If I hadn't injected Reese with the serum when I did, then _he_ would have gotten his hands on the formula, and no one wanted that,"

Lorelai, despite her maternal anger at what her husband had done to _their_ daughter, had to admit that he had a point.

Her husband's...well, now- _former_ coworker was ambitious to the point where it bordered on dangerous, and to avoid any future debilitations, Derrick had fired him.

"So, he's gone?" Lorelai asked, hugging herself, and Derrick nodded, getting up and walking over to his wife, pressing his lips to her forehead in a sign of love, protection, and promise.

"He's gone," he echoed firmly. "Mark Desmond will never work at Cadmus Labs again. We're free from him,"

➳➳➳

When Reese awoke again, it was to find her bedroom filled with choking gray smoke. It felt like she was stuck inside an oven, and an orangish light shone from behind her door.

"Mama?" she cried out, coughing a bit. "Mama! Daddy!" Reese went to open her door but jerked her hand back when it burned her.

Spinning around, the eight-year-old looked for some way out, when her eyes finally landed on her window. Running over, the small girl pulled the small latch to the side, and pushed the window up, letting cool night air filter in.

"Help!" she shouted, alerting the people gathered below. "Help, I can't get out!"

Coughing sounded from behind her, and Reese turned in time to see her father stumble into her bedroom, hacking, his face covered with soot.

"Daddy?" Reese whispered, and Derrick Michaels gave a small smile to his oldest daughter. "Daddy, what's going on?"

"You need to run, my magnificent eagle," he said hoarsely, setting his hands on Reese's shoulders. "You need to spread your wings and fly. _You_ must live,"

With that, and before Reese was able to ask whatever it was that her father meant, Derrick had already jerked forward, effectively pushing the small form of his daughter out of her bedroom window of their ninth-floor apartment.

Reese screamed as she fell towards the ground, dark hair whipping around her face.

But, before she was able to be splattered into a pancake on the sidewalk, someone grabbed her, straight out of the air, and Reese was yanked to the side, eventually being set down gently on the side of the street.

Looking upward, the eight-year-old girl was surprised to find herself face-to-face with the protector of Star City himself.

_Green Arrow._

"Are you okay?" the older man asked, and the young girl gave a shaky nod before her eyes widened.

"You have to save my family, Mr. Green Arrow," Reese burst out. "My parents, and my baby sister, they're trapped up there!"

She pointed up to the apartment, which was now practically engulfed in flames. But, before Green Arrow was able to do anything, there was a loud ' _boom_ ', before a cloud of fire erupted from the building.

Green Arrow had shielded her when the explosion had happened, but now Reese poked her head out around the man's arm, staring, stricken, up at what _used_ to be her home.

Now, it was gone...along with her family.

Without really knowing what she was doing, Reese screamed again, only this time, the scream was different.

Layers upon layers of frequencies, all laced over each other in such a way that it created a decibel wave that blew out every single window on the block.

It also caught Green Arrow straight in the crossfire, throwing the man back a good hundred feet, and also making him slam into a police car, denting the door. He lay there, stunned for a moment, before groaning in pain.

Meanwhile, Reese suddenly covered her mouth with her hands, extinguishing the sonic scream before anyone else was able to get hurt.

All of the police officers, civilians, and firefighters who had been gathered on the street now stared at the young girl, shock written all over their faces.

And, if Reese was able to look deeper, she would have also seen _fear_.

"I-I'm sorry," she whispered, not wanting to speak any louder, for fear of the scream happening again. "I-I d-didn't mean to h-hurt you,"

"Hey, kid," Green Arrow said quietly, pulling himself up. "It's okay. We're not going to hurt you,"

But, Reese only shook her head sharply, her hair whipping around in such a way that it made it hard for her to see for a moment.

She had hurt Star City's protector, its _hero_. She was dangerous. She didn't even know what was _happening_ to her.

Skittering away, Reese saw Green Arrow's mask, where his eyes should be, widen, a split second before she turned and ran, ignoring Green Arrow's protests behind her.

It seemed like her years of playing hide-and-seek with her mom and dad finally paid off because Reese finally managed to lose Green Arrow by tucking herself between two stacks of abandoned cardboard boxes.

She couldn't go home now. She had no home to go to.

Her parents, her baby sister, there was no way they survived that explosion.

Her parents were both only children, and Reese's grandparents had all died before she was born.

She was alone.


	2. Prologue II: Pretty Names & Ocean Eyes

**S T A R C I T Y**   
**August 1,** **13:35 PDT**   
**ONE YEAR LATE** **R**

It had been a long year. Since her parents and baby sister, who wasn't even a year old yet, had all been declared legally dead by the SCPD, per a TV broadcast she had caught while walking down the street, Reese had gone to the streets.

It wasn't like there was anywhere else she could go. So, as of right now, what was a nine-year-old Reese Michaels doing?

...trying to pickpocket people in downtown Star City.

 _What?_ It's more fun than you might think.

Luckily, today there were a lot of people crowding the sidewalks, so pretending to bump into people in order to lift the hard cash they left loose in their pockets wasn't as difficult as it could've been.

This way, Reese didn't have to resort to digging through abandoned trashcans for her lunch. No, now she'd be able to buy a turkey sandwich or something from one of the outside food stands.

It _was_ the Star City Summer Festival right now, and almost the entire downtown had been turned into one massive street fair.

After buying her turkey sandwich and a bottle of lemon-lime soda with a five-dollar bill she had lifted off a middle-aged woman, Reese sat down lightly on an empty bench, unwrapping the sandwich before taking a big bite out of it.

The vendor had given her a weird look when he saw that a young kid was using her _own_ money to buy something, but he hadn't said anything.

After a minute or two, another person sat down next to her on the bench, and Reese tensed. In the year she had been living by herself, she had learned to be suspicious of people, but this guy seemed like he was harmless.

He was a redhead and looked to be a few years older than her. Fifteen, maybe. He was dressed in a white t-shirt, red-and-black jacket, and blue jeans.

For a moment, he didn't say anything, before he suddenly glanced at Reese from the corner of his eye, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

"Any particular reason a young kid like you has been pickpocketing these nice people for the last hour?" For a split-second, Reese's eyes widened, before she controlled herself and narrowed her eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said firmly, and the guy chuckled.

"I gotta admit, kid, you're a good liar, but you're not the best. I grew up on the streets, I know what pickpocketing looks like,"

For a single second, Reese still sat on the bench next to the redhead, before she suddenly shot up and pushed through the gathered crowd.

"Hey!" she heard the other boy shout behind her, but Reese ignored him, in favor of trying to getaway. How could she have been so _stupid_?

It was about time that someone finally realized what she was doing. Reese wasn't the best pickpocket, she knew that, but she _was_ better than most. Not good enough, it seemed. Glancing over her shoulder, Reese managed to catch sight of the redhead, and he was following her through the thick crowd.

Pushing herself faster, Reese ducked between two stalls, one a jewelry stand, while the other was another food cart, finally bursting out into a less-crowded backstreet.

She turned around to see if the redhead was still following her but was suddenly bowled over by another person, both of them tumbling to the ground, Reese's head snapping back and hitting the asphalt.

" _Ow_ ," she groaned, sitting up, holding the back of her head. But, when Reese looked up, she found herself staring into a pair of ocean eyes that belonged to a boy about her age, with messy black hair.

"I am _so_ sorry," he burst out, as Reese was still rubbing the back of her head, trying to figure out what had just happened. "I wasn't watching where I was going, and then I--hey, it's _you_!"

His exclamation was with wonderment and shock, and it made Reese blink for a moment before she finally got a good look at whoever it was that ran into her.

There _was_ a sense of familiarity surrounding him as if she had seen him before, but Reese wasn't entirely sure, until the boy cracked a crooked smile at her, and her mouth dropped open.

It was _him_. The boy from the circus, the one whose family had fallen. He was--

"Dick Grayson," the boy suddenly shot out a hand, and warily, Reese shook it. "So, uh, last time we saw each other I never got your name. What is it?"

"...Reese," she said finally, and the boy, _Dick_ , it seemed (seriously, who names their kid that?), tilted his head to the side.

"So, Reese, is that, uh, short for something? Like, my full name is Richard, but I hate people calling me that, so everyone just calls me Dick instead,"

Reese thought for a moment.

"My mother used to call me Rhysalin when she was going to tell me something important. Everyone normally calls me Reese though," Not that she _interacted_ with most people these days, but she was friendly enough with the grocer over on 32nd Street.

"Well, can _I_ call you Rhysalin?" Dick's voice drew Reese from her thoughts, making the brunette glance upward. "It's a pretty name,"

"Thanks?" Reese asked, a split-second before there was a crash, and the redhead from earlier burst from the bushes, startling both of them. For a moment, he just stared at Reese, before his blue eyes flicked over to Dick, and they widened.

"Hey, you got her!" Reese whipped her head over to look at the black-haired boy next to her, who looked more than a bit confused.

"You two _know_ each other?" she asked, and he shrugged.

"Well, yeah, he's Roy Harper. Lives with Oliver Queen," This time, the redhead, _Roy_ , glanced between Reese and Dick, looking confused.

"Wait, _you_ twoknow each other?" the two younger kids exchanged a glance, before speaking in unison.

"I was at the circus."

"She was at the circus."

Roy's eyes widened. "Oh," he said simply before Dick glanced over towards Reese again.

"Hey, that night, you were with your family, weren't you? Why are you out here and not with them?"

Reese sat up and sort-of curled into herself, bringing her knees to her chin as she wrapped her arms around herself.

Ever since the fire, she hadn't even gone back to where her home used to be. The entire apartment building had been closed down because of the damages, and the occupants' belongings had been set out on the curb so people would be able to claim their stuff, but Reese couldn't bring herself to see if anything was salvaged from where her home used to be.

"They died...didn't they?" Dick's voice was soft, if not more than understanding, and it made Reese glance up at the boy, meeting his ocean eyes with her own brown ones.

"House fire," she said simply. Roy made a thinking noise before his eyes widened.

"Wait..." the redhead began. "You're that girl that Green Arrow saved last year! You're the one with the sonic scream!"

"Sonic scream?" Dick echoed. "You mean like Black Canary?"

Reese shook her head. "I'm _not_ Black Canary,"

The blond superheroine had shown up in Star City earlier that year, and for all of two seconds, after Reese realized that woman had the same sort of ' _powers_ ' that Reese herself did, she debated asking the woman for help but ultimately refrained.

She'd probably just do the same thing everyone else did when they found out she was some sort of _freak_ with a scream that was able to deafen a person with one blast. Reese didn't need people's _pity_. She had enough of that herself.

"But you _do_ have a sonic scream, don't you?" Roy asked, raising an eyebrow, but Reese shook her head.

"No, you must be thinking of someone else. I've heard of Canary, sure, but I don't have anything in common with her,"

Roy and Dick _both_ still looked skeptical, but they didn't press her, and Reese then slipped one of the wallets she had palmed today out of her jacket pocket. _Hmm, seventy-five dollars even. That'll buy lunch for a week or so._

"Whose wallet is that?" Roy suddenly asked again, and Reese glanced up at him, shrugging.

"Some random guy's," she answered, tossing the small leather pocketbook towards the two other boys, and Dick caught it straight out of the air. "Not that big of a deal,"

" ' _not that big of a deal_ ', she says," Roy mumbled before Dick suddenly jabbed his elbow into his ribs, practically shoving the wallet into the redhead's face.

Roy's eyebrows practically flew up and off his head when he saw the ID on the inside of the wallet. Reese narrowed her eyes.

"We have to go," the redhead said simply, grabbing Reese's jacket sleeve and dragging her behind him.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "What do you think you're doing? Let me go!"

"Unless you want _Brick_ to come after you for palming his wallet, you'll come with me,"

"You can't make me do anything!" Reese retorted as Dick looked between both of them, eyes wide. Seriously, those two had known each other for all of five minutes and they were already bickering like siblings.

"I can, and I _will_ ," Roy retorted, eyes flashing. "You're too young to be living out on the streets by yourself, _especially_ when Brick's hunting you down. Come on, I know you're lying to us about the sonic scream, so we're taking you to Green Arrow. He'll be able to help,"

" _What?_ " Reese screeched again, and this time, a nearby streetlight cracked. Dick's eyes flicked over to it for a moment, before he turned back to Reese and Roy. "I can't go to Green Arrow! I-I hurt him last time, he won't want to see me,"

"Ha!" Roy exclaimed, pointing a finger in Reese's face. "So you _admit_ you screamed at Green Arrow?"

"I never said that!" Reese retorted, and Dick quickly tried to defuse the situation before things got out of hand.

"Uh, guys? Maybe we should--"

"But, you admit that you hurt Green Arrow?"

"Guys--"

"I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"

"I think it--"

"You _do_ know that he wasn't _really_ hurt by your sonic scream, right?" Roy said finally, and Reese paused, eyes wide.

"What?" she asked, and Roy nodded.

"Yep, totally unharmed. I mean, his ears were ringing for a few days after, but all in all, he was fine. Reese, he would've helped you. Green Arrow's a member of the Justice League, they know how to deal with people with a superpower. _They_ could've helped you,"

"I _don't_ need any help," Reese said adamantly, stepping back again. "I don't want any. I've lived on my own long enough. People, when they discover that I have powers, they think I'm a _freak_ , an abomination. Some have called me worse,"

"Yeah, well, those people are jerks," Roy said almost before Reese had finished her confession, but then he narrowed his eyes. "--Wait. _Powers_? As in, like, more than one?"

Reese sighed. If Roy knew Green Arrow, and the Justice would _really_ be able to help, she figured it was probably time to come clean.

"I-I think I also have enhanced senses," she said quietly. "I mean, I can see really well in the dark, better than most people, and my hearing has always been really good. I can hear your heartbeats right now,"

She then glanced over at Dick, who had tensed, somewhere during their conversation. "Yours is really fast," Despite it, Roy smirked towards the younger boy, and Dick promptly kicked him in the shin. After a moment, Reese continued.

"I've been able to tell now when people are lying, and honestly, I _don't_ know what's going on with me," she spoke honestly, before moving her hair out of the way, showing Dick and Roy the metallic silver streak that was on the underside of her dark, chocolate brown hair. "This also showed up about six months ago. I like it, so I didn't cut it out,"

"It's pretty," Dick spoke up suddenly, and Reese and Roy both turned to stare at him. Despite it, Reese felt her face flush.

"Thanks," she said softly, before turning to Roy again and abruptly changing the subject. "Are you sure Green Arrow will be able to help?" Roy shrugged, and Reese narrowed her eyes. "Wait, how do you even _know_ Green Arrow?"

"Can't you tell?" Dick asked, stepping up to walk beside Reese as the three of them made their way down the street. "He's _Speedy_ ,"

"Hmph," Roy huffed as Reese's head snapped over to look at the older boy. "Way to keep our identities secret, _Robin_ ,"


	3. 1. Independence Day

**S T A R C I T Y**  
 **July 4, 09:01 PDT**  
 **PRESENT DA** **Y** ****

Reese, now twelve years old, perched on top of one of the bridge's support beams with Speedy and Green Arrow.

In the three years that it had been since Dick and Roy had found her on the streets of Star City, Reese had, reluctantly, mind you, allowed Oliver Queen and Dinah Lance, the civilian identities of Arrow and Black Canary, to train her, in self-defense, archery, _and_ controlling her own Canary Cry, which seemed to be, admittedly, stronger than Dinah's own.

Eventually, Reese became Green Arrow's and Black Canary's joint protégée, Silverbird, since she shared and used skills similar to both of them.

Her "uniform", as Batman liked to call it, consisted of a leather jacket and tight leather pants, with boots that covered her shins, and a pair of leather-like gloves. The bottom half of the jacket and sleeves, along with the pants were black, while the top half of the jacket was metallic silver in color, and so were some of the seams on her pants. Instead of a zipper on the jacket, it was instead like corset laces, and the forearm sleeves were the same way. Reese's hood in the same ombre effect as the rest of her outfit. Her hair, with its metallic silver streak weaving through, was styled in a thick fishtail side braid, hanging over her right shoulder. Across her eyes was a silver domino mask.

Roy, despite his prior grievances after she ran from him at the festival, became like an older brother to her, and Reese was one of the only people who could manage to calm the redhead down enough whenever he got into one of his "moods".

But, back to the matter at hand.

 _Seriously?_ Reese thought, enhanced eyes zooming in on the villain that was currently freezing the bridge, causing cars to crash and go all kitty-wumpus. _Why does Icicle Junior decide he wants to attack_ _today_ _of all days?_

Standing up, Silverbird, Speedy, and Green Arrow nocked their bows, before shooting an entire volley of arrows towards the teenage villain, one of them even catching his shoulder.

After a moment or two, the arrows exploded, taking Junior's ice-wall down and throwing him backward.

" _Finally_ ," Silverbird heard him mutter. Super-hearing had its advantages. "I was wondering what a guy had to do to get a little _attention_ around here,"

"Junior's doing this for _attention_?" Roy echoed as he, Ollie, and Reese shot more arrows in order to block the icicles that Junior suddenly sent their way.

When it became clear that they weren't going to be able to stop every icicle blast, the three archers scrammed, running across the top of the bridge to the cable that connected the two sections together.

"He is _so_ going to make us late," Reese muttered as she practically skated down the wide cable. Despite the perilous situation they were in, Roy smirked at his adoptive sister.

"You just want to see your _boyfriend_ ,"

"He is _not_ my boyfriend!" Silverbird retorted sharply, shooting an arrow towards Junior without even looking. "Why does everyone keep thinking we're dating?"

In order to dodge her black-and-silver arrow that was flying towards his face, Junior made two separate ice-stalagmites appear out of the ground, bringing them together just as Reese's arrow and one of Roy's landed in the ice, making it explode again.

There was now a good-sized hole in the ice wall, and to say Icicle Junior was mad would be an understatement.

He shot more icicles towards the archers, mainly Reese, but Silverbird leaped into the air in a frontflip taught to her by Robin, nocking another arrow and shooting it towards Junior.

The arrow caught the villain right in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

As Reese landed on the street next to Roy and Ollie, she noticed that Green Arrow was chuckling.

"Heh, the kid had a glass jaw," he quipped, and normally Reese would've laughed, but not right now. Not today.

Instead, the brunette only scowled at her mentor and adoptive father.

" _So_ not in the mood right now," she grumbled.

" _Hilarious_ ," Roy deadpanned at the same time, walking forward. "Can we go? _Today's_ the day,"

**W A S H I N G T O N D. C.**   
**July 4, 2010, 14:00 EDT**

By the time they finally showed up at the Hall of Justice, the Justice League's _public_ headquarters, the three archers had met up with Black Canary, who had been dealing with a simple bank robbery across town.

Silverbird was practically giddy as the team from Star City finally met up with the two other "sidekicks" who had already arrived with their mentors, Robin with Batman, and Aqualad with Aquaman.

Reese, forgetting for a moment where exactly they were, practically launched herself onto Robin's back, the Boy Wonder's hands flying to hold the brunette under her legs, while Reese wrapped her arms loosely around his neck.

"Well, hello there, pretty bird," Dick said, chuckling a bit. The nickname had popped up a year ago, and for some reason, it stuck. Reese didn't mind.

"You excited?" she asked, plonking her chin down on Robin's shoulder.

"You know it," her best friend answered before Silverbird was yanked off of Robin and plopped back down on the ground, Speedy scowling at the both of them.

Reese just stuck her tongue out at him, before Green Arrow went to stand between his two proteges, Black Canary setting a hand on Reese's shoulder, giving her a slightly disapproving look.

"Today's the day," Reese heard Batman say firmly.

"Welcome to the Hall of Justice," Green Arrow added.

"Headquarters of the Justice League," Aquaman finished, and despite herself, Reese exchanged a glance with Dick as they both poked their heads around their mentors to look at each other.

Some headquarters.

"Aw, man. I _knew_ we'd be the last ones here," a new voice joined the conversation, and Reese grinned, turning around to see that, _finally_ , Flash and his protege, Kid Flash, also known as Wally West, had arrived.

"What took you so long?" Silverbird spoke up, smirking, but KF only glared at her.

"Funny," he retorted but wasn't able to say anything else before all ten of them needed to head into the hall.

As they went, Reese began to listen in on what the people gathered were saying.

" _Is that Batman?_ "

" _I see Flash, and Flash Jr.,_ "

" _His name's_ _Speedy_ _,_ "

" _No, Speedy's Green Arrow's sidekick,_ "

" _I thought Silverbird was his sidekick_ ,"

" _Either way, it makes no sense_ ,"

Reese held a gloved hand up to her mouth and snickered before Green Arrow leaned over to speak to Speedy, who really _was_ his sidekick.

"Ready to see the inner sanctum?" Ollie asked, and Roy exchanged a glance with Reese before Silverbird stared up at her mentor.

"Born that way," they said in unison.

"I'm glad we're all here," Aqualad spoke up after a moment, and Kid Flash nodded.

"Have all five sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?" he asked, but was quickly cut off by Roy.

" _Don't_ call us sidekicks," the other redhead said sharply. "Not after today,"

"Speedy..." Silverbird trailed off, exchanging another glance with Robin before Kid spoke up again.

" _Sorry_ ," he apologized slowly. "First time at the Hall. I'm a little overwhelmed,"

Robin sighed. "You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed, why isn't anyone ever just _whelmed_?"

Dick went to walk into the Hall, but Reese quickly caught up with him, rolling her eyes teasingly.

" _Maybe..._ " she began. "Because it's not a real word?" Then, they all stepped into the entryway, where giant bronze statues of the seven founders stood tall overhead.

Now, Reese knew she was short, an inch shorter than Robin, even, but seriously, those statues were intimidating. Staring up at them certainly didn't help her acrophobia, or fear of heights, any.

"Oh," Dick spoke up softly. "Maybe _that's_ why," The group stopped outside of a door that read **AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY** , just before the doors slid open, revealing the Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado.

"Robin, Speedy, Silverbird, Aqualad, Kid Flash," Manhunter greeted them stoically. "Welcome,"

Next to Reese, Dick and Wally exchanged a fist bump, before they all followed the older two heroes inside, the hydraulic doors hissing shut behind them.

"You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully-stocked galley, and of course, our library,"

"Make yourselves at home," Flash said, sweeping his arms out in a grand gesture.

Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin instantly sat down in a trio of chairs that were nearby, but Speedy remained standing, while Silverbird just perched herself on the arm of the chair that Robin was sitting in.

Noticing that their mentors had walked further inward, Reese brushed her hair away from her ear and listened in on Batman's words.

"Quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking the same day," then, Bruce turned to the younger heroes. "We shouldn't take long," With that, the Justice Leaguers turned to walk into the Zeta tube that was nearby, a small camera descending from the ceiling and scanning each of them.

**_Recognized Batman 0-2, Aquaman 0-6, Flash 0-4, Green Arrow 0-8, Black Canary 1-3, Martian Manhunter 0-7, Red Tornado 1-6_ **

The doors to the Zeta tube slid open, but before their mentors could go through, Roy spoke up, and _he was pissed._

"That's _it_?" he bit out, and Reese hopped off the arm of Robin's chair, ready to intervene if things went messy. "You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass,"

"Roy, this is just a first step," Dinah said calmly before Aquaman spoke up next.

"You've been granted access few others get,"

"Oh, really?" Roy asked rhetorically, swinging his arm out and gesturing to the observation window, where several people were staring in, snapping pictures every now and then. "Who _cares_ which side of the glass we're on?"

"Roy," Green Arrow began, glancing at Reese over Speedy's shoulder before he walked forward. "You just need to be patient,"

"What I _need_ \--" Roy retorted sharply. "--is _respect_ ," Speedy glanced over his shoulder, before turning to the others. "They're treating us like kids. Worse, like _sidekicks._ We deserve better than this,"

While Robin, KF, and Aqualad glanced at each other, Silverbird stared down at her feet, having a feeling she knew where this was going.

"You're _kidding_ , right?" Roy asked when no one else spoke up. "You're playing their game? Why? Today was supposed to be _the_ day. Step _One_ in becoming full-fledged members of the League,"

"Well, sure," KF began. "But, I thought Step One was a tour of the HQ?" _Oh no._

"Except the Hall isn't the League's _real_ HQ," Behind Roy, Reese was able to see every Leaguer's eyes widen. "I bet they never told you," he continued after a moment. "It's just a false front for tourists and a pit-stop for catching Zeta-beam teleporter tubes to the _real_ thing. An orbiting satellite called the _Watchtower_ ,"

Green Arrow turned to look behind himself at Batman, who only crossed his arms.

"I _know_ , I _know_ " Ollie began sheepishly. "But, I thought maybe we could make an exception?" The lenses of Bruce's cowl only narrowed dangerously. "Or not,"

"You're _not_ helping your cause here, son," Aquaman spoke up next, walking forward. "Stand down, or--"

"Or what?" Roy retorted. "You'll send me to my room? And I'm _not_ your son, I'm not even his," he turned his head to glare at Ollie. "I thought I was his partner. But, not anymore,"

Then, to Reese's absolute shock, Roy reached up and practically tore off his yellow Robin Hood hat, throwing it onto the ground. He turned around and began to stalk away, but not before glaring at Robin, KF, Aqualad, and Silverbird.

"Guess they were right about you four," he grumbled. "You're _not_ ready,"

"Roy, stop," Reese quickly jumped in front of him just before Speedy was about to leave. "You're not thinking clearly,"

"No, Reese," the redhead retorted. "For once in my life, I think I actually _am_ thinking clearly. No one can stop me, not even you,"

Then, the boy that Reese saw as an older brother brushed her aside, making her stumble backward, before he walked out of the hall, not once looking back. Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, a transmission suddenly showed up on the massive computer next to the Zeta tube.

" _Superman to Justice League,_ " the Metropolis hero began as Reese took a deep, shuddering breath, coming to stand next to Robin, who gently set a hand on her shoulder.

Dick knew how close Roy and Reese were. Watching her surrogate brother walk out like that must have really shaken her. _Hmph_ , Robin thought to himself. _Roy didn't need to be such a jerk about it._

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus," Batman's voice jerked Reese from her thoughts, and she snapped her head up.

"Cadmus?" she echoed but looked down at the floor again when everyone turned to stare at her. After a moment, Batman continued, though Robin still gazed at the girl next to him, confused.

"This may present a perfect opportunity to--" before Bruce could continue, another transmission came through.

" _Zatara to Justice League. The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the sun. Requesting full League response,_ "

"Superman?" Batman turned to the Man of Steel.

"It's a small fire," he answered. "Local authorities have it under control,"

"Then Cadmus can wait," Batman pressed down on another button. "All Leaguers rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates. Batman out," As he hung up, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Robin, and Silverbird walked up but were stopped by Batman. "Stay put," he said firmly.

"What?" Robin asked. "Why?"

"This is a League mission," Aquaman answered calmly, and Flash continued his thought.

"You're not trained--"

"Since when?" Wally cut his uncle off, and Barry scowled.

"I meant you're not trained to be part of _this_ team," he gestured to Batman, Aquaman, and himself.

"There _will_ be other missions for you guys," Black Canary said softly, walking up next. "When you're ready," She glanced over at a still-despondent Reese for a moment before meeting Robin's eyes behind his mask.

Dinah had been a psychologist long enough to be able to read people's body language and to know that Dick was pissed. And frankly, so was she. Roy could have handled his exit better. Reese _looked up_ to him, and to have him just brush her off like that?

"But, for now, _stay put_ ," Batman continued, and Dinah followed Bruce, King Orin, and Barry to the Zeta tube.

"Glad you didn't bring you-know-who?" Oliver asked J'onn and the Martian nodded.

"Indeed,"

With that, every single one of their mentors, plus a few others, entered the Zeta tube, the doors sliding shut behind them. Reese slumped down in an empty armchair, holding her head in her hands, while Dick glanced over at her worriedly.

Meanwhile, Wally lost his temper.

"When we're ready?" the speedster scoffed, glancing over at Aqualad. "How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like--like _sidekicks_ ,"

"My mentor," Aqualad began quietly, glancing off to the side. "My King. I thought he trusted me,"

"Trust?" Wally echoed, throwing his hands in the air. "They don't even trust us with the basics. They've got a secret HQ, in _space_!"

"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad spoke again, and this time, Silverbird gave her voice, though it was immensely softer than usual.

"I have a better question," she whispered, glancing upward morosely. "Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" For a moment, all four of them looked down at the ground, before Aqualad spoke up, looking inquisitive.

"What is...Project Cadmus?"

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Don't know," he said honestly, before smirking. "But I can find out," Dick went over to stand in front of the computer, beginning to hack the system. But, the computer at first said **ACCESS: DENIED**. "Hmph, wanna bet?" Robin retorted, and a line of code appeared on the screen, leaving Kid Flash in awe.

"Woah, _how_ are you doing that?"

"Same system as the Batcave," Robin sing-songed, pressing a button, just in time for the computer to let him in. But, before the file for Project Cadmus to appear on the screen, Reese spoke up from her spot behind the other three "sidekicks".

"Cadmus is a genetics lab, here in Washington," Robin quickly skimmed the file, before glancing over his shoulder.

"How do you _know_ that?" Dick asked, but Reese shook her head quickly.

"That's not important right now," she said firmly, stopping Robin's protests before they even started. "What _is_ important is that if Batman's suspicious--"

"--Maybe we should investigate?" Dick continued her thought.

"Solve their case before they do," Aqualad continued, giving a half-smile. "It would be poetic justice,"

"Hey, they're all about justice," Robin told him.

"But, they said stay put," Aqualad sighed.

"For the blotting out the sun mission," Robin observed. "Not this,"

"Wait," KF suddenly cut in, glancing between Silverbird and Robin. "Are you two going to Cadmus? Because if you're going, I'm going,"

Despite Reese still having a few doubts about going to her father's former workplace, she, Wally, and Dick all turned to Aqualad, innocent smiles on their faces.

"Just like that?" the Atlantean spoke. "We're a Team on a mission,"

"We didn't come for a playdate," Robin retorted, and Aqualad just gave a smirk in response.

➳➳➳

The last thing Silverbird saw as she, Robin, and Aqualad ran up to the street across from the Project Cadmus building was an explosion before two scientists were thrown clear out of the window.

Kid Flash ran straight up the side of the building, saving the two scientists, but Reese froze, her eyes staring up at the flickering flames as events from four years ago flashed in her mind.

She didn't know how long she stood there, stricken, but it couldn't have been longer than a few seconds, because the next thing Silverbird knew, Robin was snapping his fingers in front of her face, trying to get her attention.

"Pretty bird, I _know_ it's hard but I need you _with us_ ," Dick said firmly, and Reese shook her head, the flashbacks disappearing from her mind.

"What?" she asked distractedly, before realizing what Robin had said. "Oh, right, right,"

"Come on," Robin said finally, grabbing Silverbird's hand in his and dragging her along with him as he flipped onto the firetruck's ladder, before using his grappling line to swing to the window where Wally was hanging, and they both pulled him up.

After a moment or two, Aqualad appeared again with the three of them in the office, where Robin was currently trying to hack the computer, trying to find any information.

"Appreciate the help," the Atlantean said dryly, but Robin only glanced over his shoulder.

"You handled it. Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?"

But, Silverbird noticed that Aqualad was no longer listening. Instead, he had already begun to walk out of the office, and Reese decided to follow him.

The two of them rounded a corner, in time to see a horned... _thing_ , inside the elevator, but the doors closed before even Reese, with her enhanced sight, was able to get a good look at it.

"You saw that right?" the brunette asked, glancing up at Aqualad, and the Atlantean nodded gravely.

"Indeed I did," he spoke just as KF and Robin joined them, Wally tilting his head to the side.

"Elevators should be locked down," the speedster said, and Robin suddenly ran in front of his friend, coming to a stop just in front of the elevator.

"This is wrong," Dick said simply, pulling up his holo-glove and what looked like some sort of schematics. "Thought so," Robin spoke again after he inspected the blueprints for a few seconds. "This is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong in a two-story building,"

"What Aqualad and I saw doesn't belong in a two-story building, either," Silverbird spoke up, peering over Robin's shoulder. "Or any building, for that matter. At least, not one from Earth,"

"You think it's some kind of alien?" Dick asked her, glancing over. But, all Reese could do was shrug. Aqualad walked forward and pried the elevator doors open with his bare hands, revealing a deep, dark elevator shaft that went down a _long_ way. Wonderful (note the sarcasm).

"And _that's_ why they need an express elevator," Robin said, kneeling at the edge and peering down. Then, he shot his grappling line at the top of the elevator shaft, before grabbing Silverbird and jumping down.

"I could've done this myself," Reese mumbled in his ear as they passed SL-10...SL-11...etc., but Dick didn't say anything in response. His arm though, which was wrapped around her waist, tightened minutely.

Suddenly, they were both jerked to a stop at SL-26, when Robin's rope suddenly went taut. Almost as if he were _surprised_ , Dick stared up from where they had come down.

"I'm at the end of my rope," he said, before turning his head slightly to look at Reese. "You'll need to swing to the ledge,"

For a second or two, Robin began to swing both of them back and forth, in order for Silverbird to get enough momentum to be able to jump to the ten-inch wide ledge in front of the elevator doors, _without_ falling who knows how many floors down.

Luckily, Reese managed, and Dick followed soon after, then Wally, and then Aqualad. Robin sat down on the ledge and pulled up his holo-glove again.

"Bypassing security..." Again, five of little Robin-heads that showcased that the Boy Wonder had hacked into Cadmus' systems appeared on the holo-screen, and when they all turned green Silverbird knew that Robin had been successful.

But, as Aqualad pried open the doors, and Reese saw what was inside, she swore she almost swallowed her tongue. On either side of a long hallway were large metal containers of...something, they were opaque, solid, and considering Silverbird didn't have x-ray vision...

"Welcome to Project Cadmus," Robin said, and Reese narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

Something about this place was... _familiar_ almost. Sure, her biological father had worked here a couple of times before he died, but the brunette was almost positive she had never been here.

Suddenly, there was the sound of loud, rhythmic clomping, like elephant feet, and they almost seemed to shake the floor. Silverbird clamped her hands over her ears, and Robin glanced over at her.

"Silverbird, you okay?" he asked worriedly, and Reese cracked an eye open, looking over at Robin.

"You don't hear that?" she whispered, and Dick warily shook his head, reaching a hand outward and wrapping it around her wrist, holding her hand lightly in his. "It's like...elephant feet...or an earthquake,"

Before anyone could stop him, Wally had already sped forward, bypassing Aqualad without a second thought.

"Kid, wait!" Wally either didn't hear the Atlantean's warning, or he didn't care, but whatever the reason, what happened next was _beyond_ weird, even by Reese's standards.

KF tripped as he was coming to a junction of hallways, and was almost crushed by these _massive_ creatures, that looked like they were made of stone, with beady red eyes and menacing tusks. They really _did_ look like elephants, sorta, without the trunks.

"There are your elephants," Robin spoke up, looking up at the creatures in slight awe.

On top of the creatures' heads was a similar one, though much, _much_ smaller, and they reminded Silverbird strangely of small monkeys.

The smaller one's horns glowed for a moment before it dissipated, and Aqualad spoke up again.

"No, _nothing odd_ going on here," Silverbird was frankly...a bit _surprised_ at the sarcasm.

All four of them watched as the line of " _stone-elephants_ " as Reese was beginning to call them inside her head, disappeared at the other end of the hallway.

Not wanting to run into _them_ again, Aqualad, Silverbird, Robin, and Kid Flash went in the opposite direction, finding a large door at the other end. Quickly, Dick hacked into it, and when the doors opened, Reese found herself gobsmacked all over again.

"What was it, you said, Robin?" she asked, staring in awe at the room in front of them. "Whelmed?"

"Yep," Robin answered, seemingly as in shock as Silverbird was.

"Then," Reese continued. "Consider me, officially _whelmed_ ,"

On the other side of the door was what looked like the inside of some sort of high-tech warehouse, with strange bug-things stuck in pods, lightning crackling around them as the entire room was bathed in a blue glow.

"This is how they hide this massive underground facility from the _world_ ," Kid Flash thought out loud as the four of them walked inside. "The _real_ Cadmus isn't on the grid. It generates its own power, with these... _things_ ," he gestured to the bugs in the pods. "It must be what they're _bred_ for,"

"Even the name is a clue," Aqualad added. "The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth,"

"And _this_ Cadmus creates new life too," Robin added, before walking over to a computer console nearby. "Let's find out why," He plugged a USB cord from his holo-glove into the console, the holo-screen popping up again. After a moment, he spoke. "They call 'em _genomorphs..._ Whoa, look at the stats on these things!" Looking at the holo-screen, Reese realized that Dick was right.

"Super-strength, telepathy, razor claws--these things are actual living weapons!" the two youngest heroes exchanged a glance with each other, and KF, from where he had walked up next to them, narrowed his eyes.

"They're engineering an army," Wally spoke gravely. "But, for who?"

"Wait, Robin, there's something else," Silverbird pointed to a section of his screen, and the Boy Wonder enlarged it.

"Project Kr?" but, when Dick tried to hack into it, it was unsuccessful. "Ugh, the file's triple-encrypted. I-I can't--"

"--Don't move!" another voice shouted at them, and the four turned in time to see more of the weird monkey creatures, though these ones were about the size of a dog, along with a man dressed in a blue-and-gold uniform with a gold helmet on his head.

Reese's eyes widened as she recognized him. The man did too, it seemed because he stopped in his tracks.

"Wait, Robin, Silverbird, Aqualad, Kid Flash?"

"At least he got your name right," Robin muttered to KF before going back to trying to hack into the Project Kr file.

"I know you," Aqualad began. "Guardian, a hero,"

"I do my best,"

"Jim," Silverbird began, recognizing Roy's own uncle when she saw him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm chief of security," Guardian said firmly, the creatures next to him tensed, almost like they were itching for a fight. "You're trespassing, but we can call the Justice League and figure this out,"

"You think the League's gonna approve of you breeding weapons?" Kid burst out.

"Weapons?" Guardian asked, actually sounding confused. "What are you--" On his shoulder, the small little creature's horns glowed red for a moment. "What have I--" it looked like Guardian was having a bad headache, or something to that degree. "Ugh, my head--"

"Robin, I'd hurry it up if I were you," Reese hissed over her shoulder, just as Guardian's whole demeanor changed.

"Take 'em down, hard! No mercy!" the genomorphs--at least, that was what Silverbird figured the creatures were--jumped forward, ready to attack, but Robin threw down a smoke bomb before they could.

Dick shot his grappling line up at a thick cement supporter beam, letting it pull him up while Reese began to shoot trick arrows at the genomorphs. Thank God Dinah had taught her how to fight.

Silverbird didn't know where Robin had ended up, but as soon as Aqualad had shocked Guardian by using the Atlantean eel tattoos that crisscrossed his arms, Reese, Wally, and Aqualad made a fast exit, the genomorphs chasing after them.

The three skidded to a stop at another junction of hallways, and Reese saw Dick hunched over by the elevator doors, trying to hack into them. KF scowled and sped over to him, while at the same time Silverbird and Aqualad stared down the hallway again, just as the genomorphs rounded the corner towards them.

"Wait," Reese held a hand up towards Aqualad. "I want to try something. Cover your ears,"

The Atlantean complied, and as the genomorphs got closer, Silverbird opened her mouth and let loose a Canary Cry, a hypersonic soundwave almost twice as strong as Black Canary's own, and it threw the genomorphs back.

Above, the ceiling cracked, and a few pieces of plaster fell down onto Reese's head, which was what made her stop before she made the entire building fall down on top of them. The genomorphs weren't defeated, not entirely, but Silverbird had bought them all some time, however little it may be.

"Way to be a team player, _Rob_ ," Kid Flash said sharply, and Robin glanced over.

"Weren't you right behind me?" he asked, just as the doors slid open, the black-haired boy and the redhead quickly going inside.

Turning around, they noticed that Aqualad and Silverbird were still running from the genomorphs. Just before she dove inside the elevator with her friends, Reese stopped, before pivoting on her foot and swinging her other leg out in a spin kick, her boot catching two genomorphs and throwing them to the side.

Then, she felt hands grab her shoulders, just as Robin yanked her inside the elevator, the doors sliding shut just as the genomorphs slammed into them. Silverbird tried to catch her breath, leaning against the wall, before she realized that the numbers of the floors up on the screen were going down, not up.

"We're going _down_?" Aqualad asked, and Kid Flash turned to glare at Robin.

"Dude out is _up_!"

"Excuse me?" Robin retorted. "Project Kr? It's _down_ , on Sub-Level 52,"

"This is out of control," Aqualad walked between Robin and Kid Flash, rubbing the back of his neck, as Reese gave Dick a look. "Perhaps--Perhaps we should contact the League,"

Before any of them could say anything, the elevator dinged, before the doors slid open, this time revealing something that looked like something straight from another alien planet, complete with weird bulbous... _things_ attached to the walls. Everything glowed a faint red color. Robin ran out first, and KF turned back to Silverbird and Aqualad, who were still standing in the elevator.

"We _are_ already here," Kid reasoned, before running out after Robin. Staring after her friends, Silverbird sighed.

"Is it always like this?" Aqualad asked her, and Reese shook her head.

"You have _no_ idea," Finally, the two of them caught up to Dick and Wally where they were both crouched down between some barrels.

"Which way?" Aqualad asked firmly, and Robin scoffed.

"Yeah," he said, gesturing with a birdarang. "Bizarre-Looking Hallway One or Bizarre-Looking Hallway Two?"

"Hold!" another voice suddenly shouted, and from Bizarre-Looking Hallway One stepped what another genomorph, though this one was more humanoid, and even wore what looked like white surgeon scrubs, or something of the like.

The genomorph's horns suddenly glowed red, just like the little ones' had earlier, and two barrels suddenly levitated into the air, before the genomorph telekinetically threw them towards the four younger heroes.

They ducked, and the barrels hit the opposite wall, exploding just as Robin threw his birdarang. The genomorph's horns glowed again, and the projectile was stopped mid-air.

Using the split-second gap as a distraction, Robin, Silverbird, Kid Flash, and Aqualad ran down one of the "bizarre-looking hallways", just as the genomorph threw more barrels at them.

Wally sped ahead like he usually did, and when Reese, Dick, and Aqualad rounded the corner, Reese saw three things at once.

One, there was another scientist on the ground, and she assumed KF had knocked her down. Two, there was another pair of massive doors, that were slowly sliding shut. And three, the doors said _Project Kr_.

Kid Flash braced a heavy triangular container between the two doors as a means to keep it open, but Silverbird could see it wouldn't last very long.

"Hurry!" Wally shouted over his shoulder. Robin and Silverbird quickly hopped through, before Aqualad followed them, kicking the door block out just as Guardian and the other genomorphs rounded the corner.

Robin quickly hacked into something on his holo-glove, before looking up.

"I disable the door," he said, glancing over at Aqualad. "We're safe,"

"We're trapped," Aqualad corrected him. Reese walked over to where Wally was standing, and when she saw what the speedster was looking at, her own eyes widened as well.

"Robin?" she asked over her shoulder, and Dick glanced over. "You and Aqualad may want to take a look at this,"

She pressed a button on the console in front of her and Wally, and lights shone down on a pod that was in the center of the room. Inside was a teenage boy, dressed in an almost-blinding white bodysuit, with an all-too-familiar red S-shield across his chest.

"Oh, _duh_ ," Silverbird suddenly spoke up, knocking her palm against the side of her head, walking closer to the pod as the dots began to connect in her head. "Big-K little-R, it's the atomic symbol for Krypton,"

"You thinking clone?" Wally asked, but before Reese could answer, Aqualad glanced over at Robin.

"Robin, hack,"

"Right, right," the Boy Wonder said distractedly, before plugging the USB cord into the console, bypassing the password-lock. "Weapon designation: Superboy," he began as Reese walked back to join them. "A clone force-grown in-- _sixteen weeks_? From DNA acquired from Superman,"

" _Stolen_ from Superman," Aqualad corrected him again.

"No _way_ the big guy knows about this," Kid Flash spoke up, and Dick continued to read ' _Superboy's_ ' file.

"Solar suit allows him to absorb yellow-sun radiation twenty-four/seven,"

"And these... _creatures_?" Aqualad asked, pointing towards the little genomorphs that were in smaller pods above Superboy's head.

"Genomorph _gnomes_ ," Silverbird read it straight from Robin's holo-screen. "They're telepathic. It looks like they're force-feeding Superboy an education,"

"And we can guess what else," Kid Flash added. "They're making a _slave_ out of, well, Superman's... _son_ ,"

" _Now_ we contact the League," Aqualad said gravely, before tapping the A-shaped belt buckle, making it light up blue. But, when Silverbird tried her own commlink, all she got was a loud burst of static, which in turn made her flinch.

"No signal," she and Robin said in unison.

"We're in too deep," KF spoke up. "Literally," Reese stared at Superboy, raising an eyebrow when the tiny G-gnomes' horns glowed slightly for a moment.

"This is wrong," Wally said, and Robin glanced up at Aqualad.

"We can't leave him like this," the Boy Wonder spoke, and Aqualad seemed to think it over for a moment before he spoke as well.

"Set him free."

Quickly, Robin disabled the pod's locked, and each side of the container hissed before, with a burst of steam, they uncovered Superboy. For a moment, nothing happened, before Superboy's fists clenched, knuckles cracking, and his eyes popped open.

Suddenly, he shot straight out of the pod, making a bee-line for Silverbird, wrapping one giant hand around her throat and squeezing the breath out of her as he tackled her to the floor.

Reese scratched at her throat, trying to pry Superboy's fingers off, before Aqualad dove at him, knocking the clone off of Silverbird, and letting Reese suck in a huge breath as Robin knelt down by her side, looking worriedly at her neck.

"You okay?" Dick asked her quietly, and Reese gave a small nod. Then, considering Aqualad's face was currently getting punched by Superboy's fists, the two of them, plus Kid Flash, tried to pry him off of the Atlantean.

"Hang on, Supey," Wally tried to reason with him.

"We're on your side," Robin added, and Superboy's fist slipped out and under KF's grip, before then punching Wally straight in the nose, throwing the speedster back, and knocking him into another pod, where Kid Flash then lay, unconscious.

"Don't make me do this," Silverbird said quietly, before taking a small gas pellet from Robin and exploding it in Superboy's face.

While the clone was distracted, Aqualad recovered enough to kick Superboy in the chest, throwing him back into the console. Unshouldering her bow, which was remarkably undamaged, Reese shot an arrow at Superboy, but he knocked it out of the air.

Then, Robin took his taser, letting the two cables lock onto Superboy as well, but they didn't seem to do much damage. Instead, Superboy yanked on them, and Robin was jerked forward, where Superboy then slammed him onto the floor, stepping down on his chest.

"Robin!" Silverbird exclaimed, before readying herself and letting loose a Canary Cry. It did make Superboy grab onto his ears in pain, but he recovered surprisingly well and went to attack her again.

Instead, Aqualad interfered, using his water-bearers to generate a glowing blue hammer that he used to knock Superboy away from Robin, making the clone slam into where his pod used to be, cracking it.

Silverbird and Aqualad helped Robin sit up, but the Boy Wonder held his chest, before flopping back down. Reese stared down at her friend worriedly, but Superboy attacking again kind of diverted her attention a bit.

"We are trying to help you," Aqualad said firmly, standing up and holding out one hand. But, it seemed like Superboy didn't really want to listen because he sped forward and punched where Aqualad was standing, the Atlantean only just being able to move out of the way.

Aqualad tackled Superboy to the ground again, slamming him into the opposite wall, and went to punch him, but Superboy caught his fist inches before it would've hit his face. Thus began a fight between the two, all the while Silverbird was trying to find an opening in order to shoot an arrow filled with knock-out gas towards Superboy.

"Aqualad!" she cried. "I can't get a clear shot!"

Even when the Atlantean used his tattoos to shock Superboy, the clone reacted too fast for Reese to shoot without hitting Aqualad as well, and she didn't want to risk rendering her friend as well.

Superboy slammed Aqualad into the ceiling before doing it again, and this time, the Atlantean fell down onto the ground, out cold.

Silverbird was the only one left. As it were, her throat was still hurting from when Superboy had tried to choke her out earlier, and if she used another Canary Cry she'd probably _really_ bring the entire place down on top of them.

So, she tried using the knock-out arrow. Emphasis on _tried_. It didn't work. When the gas dissipated, Superboy was still standing, and the last thing Reese saw was his fist flying towards her face.

Then, everything went black.


	4. 2. Fireworks

**W A S H I N G T O N D. C.  
July 5, 00:01 EDT**

' _Time runs short. You must awaken now!_'

Reese's eyes flashed open and she tried to gasp, only to realize that there was a thick band of metal covering her mouth, muffling any noise she might make.

Her hands and feet were shackled, and when she glanced around, Silverbird realized that Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad were in the same predicament as her, except they didn't have a metal band covering their mouths.

All four of them were trapped in pods, with Dick to Reese's right, Wally to her left, and Aqualad on Kid Flash's other side.

In front of them stood Superboy, the clone of Superman staring hard at all four of them. But, no matter how hard she tried, Silverbird wasn't able to speak. Or move her head at all, for that matter.

"What?" Wally exclaimed finally. "What do you want? Quit staring you're creeping me out!"

"Uh, KF?" Robin added, glancing worriedly at the girl next to him before he turned to the redhead. "How about we _not_ tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?" Then, for some odd reason, the band that had been over Silverbird's mouth suddenly split apart, and the girl sucked in a breath.

"You okay?" the whisper was quiet and if she hadn't had enhanced hearing Reese wouldn't have caught it, but she did, and the twelve-year-old girl glanced over at Dick.

"Fine," she answered, just as soft, and couldn't help but notice how Aqualad and Kid Flash _conveniently_ averted their eyes. "I think the band was just to stop me from using my Canary Cry. What about you?"

"Feeling whelmed," For a moment, Robin smirked, and it made Silverbird feel a bit better, if only for a moment. "You think you could get us out of here?"

"No," Reese shook her head. "Even if there was enough room for me in this... _pod_ , it's in such an enclosed space that I'd just end up hurting myself. The soundwaves would bounce back and hit me instead of breaking whatever material these are made of,"

"Your neck is bruised," Dick said softly, his eyes practically glaring at the finger-shaped marks from where Superboy had tried to choke her earlier. Before Reese could say anything in response to that, Aqualad spoke up.

"We only sought to help you," the Atlantean said calmly, but Wally abruptly cut him off.

"Yeah, we free you, and you turn on us. How's that for grat--"

"KF, stop it," Silverbird spoke firmly, making the speedster glance over. "Those things, the G-gnomes, they're telepathic. I don't even think Superboy knew what he was doing when he attacked us,"

"Seriously?" Wally asked, raising an eyebrow, before jerking his head towards Superboy. "You're taking _his_ side? He almost killed you!"

"Back off, Kid!" Robin said dangerously, eyes narrowing. But, despite being glared down by the protege of the Bat, Kid Flash scoffed.

"And what are you gonna do, Rob? _Dangle_ there like some sort of--"

"Kid, Robin, please, _be quiet_ now," Aqualad spoke again, and his voice was with enough authority that it made both Robin _and_ Kid Flash stop. "Silverbird is right. I, too, believe that our new friend was not in full control of his actions,"

Next to her, Silverbird heard a subtle click and glanced from the corner of her eye to see that Robin had begun to use the lockpick built into his glove as a way to try and get out of his shackles.

Man, she _really_ wished she had one of those. Maybe she could ask Ollie when they got out of here. _If_ they got out of here and her adoptive father didn't ground her _forever_. Sure, Oliver Queen wasn't as stoic or serious as Bruce Wayne or Batman, but he was still intimidating when he was angry.

"What if I--What if I wasn't?" Superboy's voice was deep, and eerily like Clark's, and Reese's eyes widened.

"He can _talk_?" Wally's voice sounded shocked, and Superboy clenched his fists.

"Yes, _he_ can," the rest of them turned to glare at the redhead, and Kid Flash shrugged.

"It's not like I said ' _it'_ ," Silverbird just rolled her eyes before she glanced down at Superboy.

"The genomorphs," she began. "They taught you...telepathically?"

"They taught me much," Superboy answered. "I can read, write...I know the names of things,"

"But have you seen them?" Robin spoke up from his pod. "Have they _ever_ actually let you see the...sky? The sun?"

"Images are implanted in my mind," Superboy's expression didn't change. "But...no, I have not _seen_ them,"

"Do you know what you are?" Aqualad asked. " _Who_ you are?" Superboy glanced up at him.

"I am the Superboy. A genomorph, a clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish, to _destroy_ him should he turn from the light,"

"Yeah, like _that_ doesn't sound ominous at all," Silverbird mumbled under her breath, and she exchanged a glance with both Robin and Kid Flash, as Aqualad spoke up again.

"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration. But, like Superman, you deserve a life of your own. _Beyond_ that solar-suit. _Beyond_ your pod. _Beyond_ Cadmus,"

"I live _because_ of Cadmus!" Superboy exclaimed angrily. "It is my home!"

"Your home--" Robin cut in. "--is a test tube. _We_ can show you the sun,"

"Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight," Kid Flash added. "But, we can show you the moon,"

"We can show you, _introduce_ you, to Superman," Superboy's face turned almost awe-struck, and Silverbird counted that as a win before a new voice joined their conversation.

" _No_ ," the man said firmly. "They can't," the doors slid open to reveal Guardian, the scientist-lady from earlier, and... Reese, despite herself, sucked in a sharp breath, catching Dick's attention and causing him to glance over at her.

But, Silverbird was too preoccupied with staring at the other scientist that had walked in. Middle-aged, with brown hair graying on the sides all tied back into a ponytail, and black-rimmed glasses sitting on his face.

She knew this man. Her fatherhad _worked_ with this man.

"They'll be...otherwise occupied," Dr. Desmond spoke to the female scientist next. "Activate the cloning process,"

"Pass," Silverbird spoke up suddenly, and Robin nodded.

"Yeah, the Batcave's crowded enough," Desmond ignored him, then turning to Guardian.

"And get the weapon back in its pod!" As Guardian walked forward stoically, Kid Flash scoffed.

"Hey, how come _he_ gets to call Supey an ' _it_ '?"

"Not the _time_ , KF," Silverbird hissed from the side of her mouth, and as Superboy turned back to face them, Aqualad spoke up.

"Help us,"

For one single second, Silverbird had a single shred of hope as Superboy jerked his shoulder away from Guardian's hand, that maybe he _would_ help them, but Desmond demolished that hope pretty quickly.

"Don't start thinking _now_ ," the scientist berated him, just as another G-gnome hopped from his shoulder onto Superboy's, and causing the clone's face to go completely blank. "See?" Desmond continued. "You're not a _real_ boy, you're a weapon, and you belong to me--well, to Cadmus--same thing. Now get back your pod!"

With that, Superboy, now a complete pawn of Cadmus, turned and walked out, just before Desmond turned around again. His eyes landed on Silverbird, and they narrowed thoughtfully.

"I _know_ you..." Desmond spoke, cupping his chin in one hand, and Silverbird's eyes widened, as did Robin's, Aqualad's, and Kid Flash's. "You're the sidekick of Black Canary, aren't you?"

"I mean, I'd rather go for more of a _partner_ -side of things, but sure, sidekick works too,"

"No, that's not it," Desmond said, half-to-himself as he inspected her from a distance before he gasped, eyes widening again. "You're the daughter of Derrick Michaels,"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said firmly, but Desmond only shook his head.

"I thought everyone had died that night. But, it seems like I _missed_ one..." he trailed off, but Silverbird managed to catch his meaning.

"You set the fire," she realized breathlessly, and Desmond smirked. "You killed my _entire_ family!"

"Pity," Desmond said dismissively, waving a hand around. "I was sure you had perished in the blaze as well. You can never trust fire. So unpredictable. Well, better late than never, right?"

"You're a _monster_ ," Reese growled, and opened her mouth to Canary Cry, not even caring that it might hurt her as well, but before she could do anything, the metal band snapped over her mouth again, yanking her head back against the back of her pod so she wouldn't be able to move at all.

"Your father ruined my _life_ ," Desmond retorted as Silverbird struggled against her bonds, jerking her arms around as she tried to escape. "Luckily, I got my job back. In fact, I tookyour _father's_ former position in the company. I made it _better_. Now, you'll be the first of your friends to _die_ ,"

Suddenly, after the female scientist pressed a few buttons on the nearby console, two robotic arms appeared, before they separated into four separate appendages.

Then, if that wasn't bad enough, the needles that were at the end jabbed into Reese's chest, underneath the protective covering of her jacket, and electricity suddenly lanced throughout her entire body, causing her to scream into the metal band as her back arched, spasming.

A weird, sucking sensation occurred as well as Reese's blood was drawn through the needles, appearing in a large sphere underneath the pod. Silverbird was just coherent enough that she was able to catch the sound of her friends screaming her name. The voice that came through it all, was Robin's.

"Stop it!" he shouted, his voice a mix of terror and rage. "You're hurting her! Please, just _stop_!" as he yelled the last word, robotic arms appeared in his own pod, Kid Flash's, and Aqualad's, before they too were getting shocked.

Reese didn't know how long the pain lasted, but it eventually stopped, and she hung limp as her head pounded. She could feel a migraine coming on. _Great._

"I thought I told you to get back to your--" Silverbird blinked her eyes open wearily in time to see Superboy swipe Guardian, Desmond, the female scientist, and another genomorph to the side.

" _Don't_ give me orders," Superboy growled, before walking towards the pods.

"You here to help us or fry us?" Kid Flash asked, but Superboy only stared at him, narrowing his eyes.

"Huh," the clone said finally. "I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose _helping_ is my only option,"

There was another click, and Robin finally managed to unlock his shackles, the bands retreating as the Boy Wonder dropped to the ground, rubbing his wrists.

"Ugh, finally," he grumbled. "Lucky Batman _isn't_ here, he'd have my head for taking so long,"

"Seriously?" KF deadpanned. "That's what you're worried about? The whole League'll have our heads after tonight! Rob, that Lab Coat guy almost killed Silverbird!"

"You think I don't _know_ that?" Robin's face was angry enough at the moment to make Wally pause in his rant before the redhead glanced over at Green Arrow's adoptive daughter, hanging limply next to him. "Free Aqualad!" Robin said next, still more than a little bit bitter. "I'll get Silverbird and Kid Mouth,"

"Don't you give me orders either," Superboy grumbled, before leaping up and crushing Aqualad's shackles in one hand. As he held up the exhausted Atlantean, Aqualad gave a small smile.

"Thank you,"

Meanwhile, Robin had just unlocked the metal band that covered Silverbird's mouth, which in turn made everything else disappear as well. He steadied her as she stumbled, her energy severely drained.

"You okay, pretty bird?" Dick asked quietly, and Reese gave a small nod, her brown hair plastered to her forehead in a cold sweat.

"I'll be fine," she reassured him, though both of them could tell she was lying. "I'll just need to sleep for a few years," Despite it all, Robin gave a small chuckle, before the both of them freed KF.

"You're not lookin' so hot, Silver," Wally observed, and Reese scowled.

"I'll be _fine_ ," she repeated, before crossing her arms. "Now, shouldn't we get out of here?"

"Right," The four of them, plus Superboy, ran out of the room where they had been trapped, as Desmond began to metaphorically throw a temper tantrum.

"You'll never get out of here!" the scientist shouted to them. "I'll have you back in pods before morning!"

"That guy is _not_ whelmed," Robin said as he threw birdarangs towards the spheres where their blood was stored. "Not whelmed at all,"

"What is it with you and this whelmed thing?" Wally asked, just as the birdarangs exploded, and they all made their exit.

"We are still forty-two levels below ground," Aqualad began as the five of them ran through the red hallways. "But if we can make it to the elevator--" Before they could get there, some more of the " _stone elephants_ " appeared in front of them, and they all skidded to a stop. Reese turned around, to see the bulbous containers attached to the wall begin to glow, just as more genomorphs seemed to almost... _hatch_ , from within.

"Oh, that is _so_ gross," Silverbird muttered, just as one of the genomorph trolls rose its massive fists above its head, getting ready to squash all of them.

Luckily, they all managed to dodge, and Superboy punched the troll right in the face, toppling it to the ground. Robin, Silverbird, Kid Flash, and Aqualad leaped over the toppled genomorph, but Reese stumbled again as they landed, Dick having to catch her before she fell.

"You are _not_ fine, pretty bird," Robin said worriedly, but Silverbird only glanced at him.

"We can't worry about that now," she said. "We need to get out of _here_ , first," Robin looked like he wanted to protest, but pieces of the ceiling started to fall around them, and Aqualad spoke up.

"Superboy!" the Atlantean called. "The goal is ' _escape'_ , not to bury ourselves here!"

"You want ' _escape_ '?" Superboy shouted, whipping his head around. Then, he took one of the massive genomorphs and swung it around, hitting two others and taking all three out for the count.

Meanwhile, Aqualad wrenched the elevator doors open, revealing the empty elevator shaft. This time, instead of letting Robin carry her, Silverbird shot a grappling line straight up, and the anchor caught on an open space.

Robin shot his own grapple, while Kid Flash jumped to the edge, ready to run up the wall. Superboy grabbed onto Aqualad and leaped into the air to fly the two of them out. But, then--then he started to _fall_.

Silverbird's eyes widened, but before she could do anything, Robin had already whipped out a birdarang, throwing it to the wall, where Aqualad grabbed onto it.

"Superman can fly," Superboy mumbled, seeming shocked. "Why can't I fly?"

"Don't know," Kid Flash spoke up from his spot across from Silverbird and Robin. "But, it looks like you _can_ leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still cool,"

Superboy and Aqualad landed lightly on the ledge in front of the Sub-Level 15.

"Thank you," the clone said softly before Robin spoke up.

"Guys!" he exclaimed, pointing upwards. "This'll _have_ to be our exit," Following his sightline, Silverbird gulped as she saw the elevator heading towards them.

Superboy kicked the door downs down, and all five of them dove onto the landing, just as the elevator car whooshed by. As she landed, Reese suddenly felt very woozy, and she had to lean against the wall in order for the haze to clear. Her headache was getting worse.

"Something's wrong with her," Robin said simply, gazing at her but Kid Flash only gave him a dry look.

"Yeah, no duh," Before Dick could say anything in response to that, genomorphs appeared at the end of the hallway, leaving the young heroes to have to go another way.

As they ran, Reese had the nagging feeling that they were lost, before Superboy suddenly shouted, "Go left!" then, a few meters down, "Right!" When they finally stopped, it was at a dead-end hallway. But, Silverbird had an idea.

"Great directions, Supey!" KF grumbled. "Are you _trying_ to get us repodded?"

"No. I-I don't understand,"

"Wait," Reese cut in, straightening, staring at the air-vent cover that was above them. "You don't need to apologize, because I have an idea,"

Quickly, taking advantage of her smaller size, Silverbird vaulted off the wall, bursting into the air vent that it was connected too. Down below, Robin stared up at where Reese had disappeared, a soft smile on his face.

"Nice one, pretty bird," he whispered, just as KF jabbed his elbow into Robin's ribs, smirking.

" _Pretty bird_ , eh?" Robin just scowled.

"Shut up," Dick hissed, while Aqualad shook his head, chuckling, and Superboy looked on in confusion.

After a moment though, Silverbird stuck her head out of the vent again. Her hair had come out of its braid sometime during their run through Cadmus, and now it hung midway down her back, the silver streak prominent within the chocolate brown strands.

"You guys coming?" she asked, and the other four guys quickly hopped into the vent. As he appeared behind her, Reese glanced at Dick. "Why's your heart beating so fast?"

For a split-second, Robin's face completely blanched, and his heart rate spiked even more before he gave a short--and obviously _fake--_ answer.

"...Adrenaline,"

Silverbird raised an eyebrow, obviously not believing him, but right now they had bigger things to worry about than whether or not Robin was lying about something.

"Ugh," KF groaned as they rounded yet _another_ corner. "At this rate, we'll _never_ get out,"

"Shh," Superboy said quickly. "Listen," Straining her ears, Silverbird did so, and practically groaned in frustration as she heard multiple genomorphs heading their way.

"We have to move," the archer spoke, turning towards Robin. " _Now_ ," Luckily, they found an exit and dropped down to the floor again. Robin instantly pulled up his holo-glove, before he glanced over his shoulder again gleefully.

"I hacked the motion sensors."

" _Sweet_ ," KF grinned.

"There's still plenty of them between us and out," Robin continued, but Kid Flash said nothing, only pulling his red goggles over his eyes.

"But, I finally got room to move," With that, Wally opened the door to the stairwell, speeding up the steps, and effectively clearing a path by knocking the genomorphs out of the way.

Silverbird, Robin, Aqualad, and Superboy followed as soon as the way was clear, Dick's holo-glove still giving them any alerts when they were being followed.

"Four behind us!" Robin exclaimed, and Superboy stamped down on the edge of the stairs, the entire thing falling beneath his foot, taking the genomorphs with it.

Alarms suddenly began to blare as the five of them reached the top of the stairwell, and when they entered one of the main hallways again, Reese saw Wally sitting up in front of a massive door, holding his head.

He must have run into it.

"We're cut off from the street," Aqualad said, and KF groaned.

" _Thanks_ , my head hadn't noticed,"

Even when Superboy and Aqualad tried to pry the doors open with the combination of their enhanced strength, or when Robin tried to hack into the system, it didn't work. Silverbird debated using a Canary Cry, but genomorph trolls, the big stone-like trunk-free elephants, rounded the corner before she was able to do anything.

"This way!" Robin exclaimed, kicking down a side-door. But, they didn't get very far before they were met with Guardian and a whole army of different-sized genomorphs, from G-gnomes to the massive G-trolls.

Aqualad made his water-bearers into swords, ready for a fight, but the G-gnomes horns glowed for a second, and Silverbird felt her mind go blank before she, Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad all fell to the ground.

She couldn't have been out for more than a few seconds, but when Silverbird blinked her eyes open, she saw one of the genomorphs, the one who actually _wore_ clothes, having what looked like a staring contest with Superboy.

Finally, Superboy spoke.

"I...choose... _freedom_ ,"

Guardian then held a hand to his temple, looking more than a bit confused at what all was going on. "Feels like...fog lifting," As Robin helped Silverbird sit up, Guardian turned to the brunette. "Silverbird..." he began, making Reese glance at him. "I--I found this a while back," Guardian held an envelope out to her. There was no return address, only her name. Her _real_ name.

Dick raised an eyebrow behind his mask, but Reese took the envelope anyway, slipping it into one of her jacket pockets. There wasn't time to open it now.

"Guardian?" Aqualad asked, sounding grave, and Jim Harper's face turned emotionless.

"Go," he told them firmly, eyes flicking over to Silverbird for a moment. " _I'll_ deal with Desmond,"

"I think _not_ ," Speak of the devil. The genomorphs parted to show the scientist standing behind them. "Project _Blockbuster_ will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus,"

He held up a glowing blue vial, before tipping it back and gulping down the entire thing. Immediately, he began to writhe around, before collapsing onto his hands and knees.

Subconsciously, Silverbird tightened her hold on Robin's shoulders as everyone's eyes widened, Dick doing the same to her. _This..._ could not be good. The entire situation got even grosser when Desmond's eyes popped open, revealing them to be pure black, with only a small spot of red in the middle.

Then, the scientist's skin split apart, revealing a second layer that sort of looked like the G-trolls' own exterior if Reese were being completely honest. But, right now, she was too freaked to care.

The Blockbuster creature roared, and Guardian quickly stood in front of them.

"Everyone, back!" he shouted, before trying to run at the creature, but Blockbuster merely swatted him aside, as if he was an annoying fly.

Guardian slammed into the wall, where he then lay limp, groaning. Then, Superboy tried to take down Blockbuster, and for a few seconds, it was... _sort of_...evenly matched, before the monster just straight-up threw Superboy through the ceiling.

"Okay..." Robin began as he, Silverbird, Kid Flash, and Aqualad stared up at the hole made by Superboy and Blockbuster. "That's one way to bust through the ceiling,"

"You think Lab Coat planned that?" Wally spoke up as Robin yanked the two of them up through the ceiling, Silverbird following after them.

"I doubt he is planning anything anymore," Aqualad answered gravely, before leaping through the hole into the main lobby area of Cadmus, where Superboy was still fighting Blockbuster.

Suddenly, Superboy was thrown towards them, and Robin yanked Silverbird to the side, just as the clone slammed into Aqualad, throwing them both backward.

Blockbuster roared at them as Robin and Kid Flash helped Superboy and Aqualad stand up. Then, KF ran straight towards him but slid between Blockbuster's legs before the creature was able to land a hit on him.

When Blockbuster turned around again, he was met with a simultaneous punch from both Aqualad and Superboy, knocking the monster backward. Wally crouched down, and Blockbuster tripped, landing heavily on his back.

"Learned that one in kindergarten," the speedster bragged, as Robin and Silverbird flipped over his head, Dick throwing his birdarangs, and Reese shooting multiple arrows at Blockbuster at once.

But, the monster just swatted them out of the way, before turning to Superboy again and slamming him against a support beam, which cracked with the force.

Aqualad used his water-bearers to wrap a rope of glowing, blue water around Blockbuster's arm, before jumping forward and ramming his knee into the monster's face. Then, the Atlantean turned the rope into a spiked mace, but Blockbuster caught it before it could hit him, using the leverage to throw Aqualad to the side.

Then, Superboy was thrown into another support beam, a chunk of concrete falling on top of him. KF ran towards Blockbuster, but the monster grabbed him, throwing him into Aqualad as the latter tried to hit him with another water-mace.

If that wasn't bad enough, Aqualad was pushed through the next beam, getting slammed into another one, where Blockbuster punched him, again, and again.

Looking up, Silverbird noticed that the entire stability of the building was getting weaker and weaker by the minute. So, it seemed, did Robin.

" _Of_ _course_!" he exclaimed next to her, pulling up his holo-glove. "KF, get over here!"

When Wally joined them, Dick showed him the schematics of the stability beams, and as Blockbuster threw Superboy through another one, words blinked into existence.

**DAMAGE  
STRUCTURAL COMPROMISE**

"Got it?" Robin asked, turning to KF, and the speedster nodded.

"Got it,"

"Go,"

Wally sped towards Blockbuster and Superboy, leaping between them and grabbing something off the creature's face. When Reese saw what it was, she gagged, realizing it was the remnants of Dr. Desmond's nose.

KF glanced down at the piece of flesh in his hand, before turning back to Blockbuster.

"Got your nose!" Blockbuster roared again, and Wally ran, as Superboy and Aqualad stood up wearily.

"Superboy, Aqualad!" Robin called, before showing the holo-glove.

"Come and get me, you incredible _bulk_!" KF shouted, just before Blockbuster's fist slammed into the beam he had been standing in front of seconds before. A piece clipped Wally in the shoulder, and he groaned, stumbling to the ground.

Luckily, the speedster managed to roll out of the way before Blockbuster crushed him, leaping over a pile of rubble to avoid the monster.

"This one, and that one!" Robin shouted to Superboy and Aqualad, pointing to two more support beams. While Dick drew a giant 'X' with chalk on the floor, Reese got ready for _her_ part in the plan.

Hopefully, this didn't go south.

While Aqualad used his water-bearers to spread water all over the floor, KF slid on it like he was surfing. Then, Superboy leaped into the air, punching Blockbuster so the monster fell onto the puddle of water.

Using his eel tattoos, Aqualad electrified the water, shocking Blockbuster until the monster sat there, dazed.

"You ready?" Robin asked quietly, and Silverbird gave a small nod. As Superboy, Aqualad, and Kid Flash came to stand behind them, Dick set a hand on Reese's shoulder. "Then bring down the house, pretty bird,"

Taking a deep breath, Silverbird opened her mouth, screamed, and the Canary Cry absolutely _decimated_ the entire building, causing it to crack and crumble all around them. But, before they were able to get crushed by the debris, Aqualad and Superboy, the ones with the most durability, grabbed the younger heroes and shielded them.

As Cadmus imploded around them, and the dust settled, Superboy threw off the chunk of concrete and rubble that had been covering them.

"We...did it," Aqualad spoke, breathing heavily.

"Was there...ever any doubt?" Robin retorted, sharing a hi-five with Kid Flash, though they winced right after, holding their ribs.

Looking over, Silverbird saw Blockbuster lying underneath a ton of rubble and debris, and couldn't help but think...that he deserved worse. He _was_ the one who killed her parents and baby sister, after all.

Suddenly, Reese swayed, beginning to fall backward, would've collapsed to the ground, had Robin not leaped forward and caught her at the last moment.

"What's wrong with her?" Superboy asked but Robin only shook his head, staring at the archer in his arms.

"She's just exhausted," he said quietly. "Too much happening too fast," Silverbird blinked wearily, just wanting to curl up and sleep forever.

"See?" she spoke up, pointing upwards. "The moon," Then, Reese caught sight of a figure flying towards them, and Wally grinned.

"Oh, _and_ Superman? Do we keep our promises or what?"

"We are _so_ screwed," Silverbird mumbled as the _entire_ Justice League appeared around them, and Robin chuckled.

"I guess it's safe to say you _won't_ be coming to our movie night tomorrow?" he asked, and Reese shook her head.

"I'll be lucky if you _ever_ see me again," Considering the looks on Black Canary's and Green Arrow's faces were probably mad enough to make even _Batman_ squirm.

As Superman landed in front of them, Superboy walked forward, and the Man of Steel's eyes narrowed before Superboy lifted up the torn section of his solar suit, revealing the shield.

But, rather than welcome the boy who was _basically_ his son, Superman did nothing, almost seeming to _glare_ at Superboy instead, as if it was _his_ fault he was a clone.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman spoke up.

"He doesn't like being called an ' _it',_ " KF hissed from the side of his mouth.

"I'm Superman's clone," Superboy said firmly, stepping forward, as the rest of the Justice League began to murmur in shock and concern behind Batman.

Instead, the Dark Knight ignored them, stepping forward with Green Arrow, Black Canary, Aquaman, and Flash.

"Start talking," Batman said simply before Black Canary's eyes landed on Silverbird, who was still being supported by Robin. She was awake, but still weary, as was everybody.

"What happened?" the blonde burst out, as Aqualad and Kid Flash began to explain to Batman.

Robin sighed. "She's just tired. Used up a lot of energy," After a moment of contemplation, Black Canary gave a small nod, before going to stand by Green Arrow again, as the blond man stared rather directly at Robin.

Eventually, Superman walked up to Superboy, looking more than a little uncomfortable as his clone crossed his arms.

"We'll--We'll figure something out for you," Superman began. "The League will, I mean. For now...I'd better make sure they get that...Blockbuster creature squared away," With that, the Man of Steel flew away, and Silverbird had the undeniable urge to punch him. She doubted it would do much damage, but it would sure make her feel better.

"Cadmus will be investigated...all _fifty-two_ levels," Batman started, having walked over to the younger proteges again. "But let's make one thing clear--"

"--You should've called!" Flash cut him off, but for once, Batman ignored him.

"End results aside we are _not_ happy. You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will _not_ be doing this again," Silverbird sighed, exchanging a glance with Robin and Kid Flash before Aqualad spoke up firmly.

"I'm sorry," the Atlantean began. "But we _will_ ,"

"Aqualad, stand down," Aquaman told his protege firmly, but Aqualad only shook his head, giving a small salute of respect.

"Apologies, my King," he said. "But, no. We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do. Together, on our _own_ , we forged something powerful, important,"

"If this is about your treatment at the Hall, the four of you--"

"The _five_ of us--" Reese quickly cut Flash off, narrowing her eyes.

"--and it's not," Kid Flash added.

"Batman, we're ready to use what you've taught us, or why teach us at all?" Robin glared at his mentor, determination practically radiating off of him.

"Why let _them_ tell us what to do?" Superboy asked, gaining more confidence with each step he took. "It's simple. Get on board, or get out of the way,"

For a moment, Batman just stared at him, before turning to Arrow and Canary, mouth set in a firm line.

"Take Silverbird home," he said, and Dick and Reese both began spluttering in protest. After a second, Batman glanced back at them. "We'll meet again in three days. For the time being, Superboy can stay with Kid Flash,"

Giving a despondent nod, Silverbird stepped back from Robin, going to stand next to her adoptive father.

She was completely, and utterly... _screwed_.

**S T A R C I T Y  
July 4, 21: 50 PDT**

" _What--,_ " Oliver Queen began as he threw open the door to the apartment, Reese and Dinah following him in. "--were you thinking? Going to Cadmus? Bruce told you guys to stay put!"

"It wasn't that big of a deal," Reese muttered, wrapping her arms around herself as she sat down lightly on the couch.

Her adoptive father pinched the bridge of his nose, hissing a breath out from between his teeth before he spoke, with scary calmness.

"Reese, there are things that sidekicks do, and things that the heroes do--"

"We're _not_ sidekicks!" she exclaimed, standing up. "The League was busy with Wotan anyway, we just thought that if we figured out what was going on at Cadmus, you'd trust us more,"

"Trust you?" Ollie echoed, before shaking his head. "Sweetheart, of course, we trust you. We _all_ trust you. But, there are certain things that are just too dangerous for you guys,"

"Desmond was the one who set the fire that killed my family," Reese mumbled, and both Ollie and Dinah froze. "That Blockbuster creature, he took a serum that turned him into that _thing_. But, before, he was Dr. Mark Desmond, a man my dad used to work with,"

"Do you _know_ he was the one to set the fire?" Dinah asked calmly, and Reese stared up at the blonde woman.

"He confessed,"

Ollie sighed. "We can talk about this more in the morning," he said, rubbing a crease between his eyebrows. "Right now, you need sleep,"

Reese sighed before she glanced up. "So...since we cleared everything up, does that mean Dick and I can have a movie night tomorrow?"

Dinah and Ollie exchanged a glance before Ollie finally spoke up.

"No."

Reese wasn't sure why she didn't tell Ollie and Dinah about the letter that Guardian had given her but decided to keep it to herself for now.

There'd be time to read it later.

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
** **July 8, 08:04 EDT**

Reese stood with Dick, Wally, Aqualad, and Superboy inside the Justice League's former headquarters, Mount Justice.

All four of them were in civvies, while Robin had a pair of opaque sunglasses over his eyes.

Reese was dressed in a black jacket, white t-shirt, and blue leggings, with knee-high black boots on her feet. Her hair was tied up in a sleek high ponytail.

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary for the Justice League," Batman began. "We're calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on _League terms_. Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training. _I_ will deploy you on missions,"

"Real missions?" Robin asked hopefully, and Batman gave a minute nod.

"Yes, but _covert_ ,"

"The League will handle the obvious stuff," Flash said, pointing towards his emblem. "There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests,"

"But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter," Aquaman spoke up. "Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly,"

"The six of you will be that team,"

"Cool," Dick began, before realizing what Batman had said. "...Wait, six?"

Footsteps sounded behind them, and they all turned to see Martian Manhunter walking towards them, along with a female Martian who couldn't have been more than sixteen years old.

She was also green, but her hair was red and went down past her shoulders, and she also had amber eyes. Her outfit consisted of a white top with a red 'X' design crossing over it, along with a short blue cape. Her skirt, gloves, and boots matched the cape.

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian," Batman supplied, and the girl gave a shy wave.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Liking this gig more every minute," Reese heard Wally mutter to Dick before the redhead sped forward to introduce himself. "Uh, welcome aboard, I'm Kid Flash. That's Silverbird, Robin, and Aqualad. It's cool if you forget their names,"

"I'm honored to be included," Miss Martian said, clasping her hands together. Reese grinned.

"And _I'm_ honored that there will _finally_ be a girl my own age to work with, instead of a bunch of guys,"

Reese heard Wally and Dick sputter in protest behind her, but she ignored it, instead walking forward to shake Miss Martian's hand. The boys all followed her, though Superboy hung back. Finally, Robin glanced over his shoulder.

"Hey, Superboy!" he cried out. "Come meet Miss M," As the clone reached them, Reese raised an eyebrow when Miss M's white shirt changed color, turning black as her cape retreated, disappearing completely.

"I...like your t-shirt," the Martian said softly, and Reese grinned. Oh, these two were going to be _so_ cute.

As Superboy cracked a small smile, Dick jabbed his elbow into his ribs, and Wally sped to the other side, clamping a hand down on the clone's shoulder. Aqualad smiled as well.

"Today _is_ the day,"


	5. 3. Breaking Loose

**C E N T R A L C I T Y  
** **July 9, 13:28 CDT**

Reese and Dick stood in front of Wally and Aqualad at a small cafe in Central City, the four of them all dressed in civvies as the two youngest held, well, _Robin_ held, a photograph of a dark-haired woman up in front of the other two.

Wally looked confused, and he tilted his head to the side.

"So," the redhead began. "Why am I looking at a picture of..." he trailed off, obviously not recognizing the woman, though honestly, Reese hadn't expected him to.

"Her name's Gonzalez," Dick explained.

"Selena Gonzalez," Reese added, but Wally's expression didn't change. Instead, he only crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"And we care _why_?" the speedster asked again, before waving a hand. "I mean, aside from the fact that she's a hottie?"

Reese grimaced. "Ew," she said. "KF, she's, like, twice your age," But, the speedster only shrugged, a few seconds before Dick got them both back on track.

"She's here in Central City," Robin began explaining again. "And being targeted for a hit. There's a reason..."

"We just don't know what it is yet," Reese continued. From what she and Dick had dug up, Selena Gonzalez seemed like a relatively normal person. Aside from her business dealings, there wasn't really anything about her that screamed ' _assassinate me!'_.

"Well," Robin said, tilting his head to the side. "We might have found something _related_ to her,"

"Related how?" Aqualad asked, quirking an eyebrow as Reese turned to stare at Dick. She knew she wasn't one of the ' _World's Greatest Detectives_ ' like Batman and Robin, but she was investigative to her own right.

"Looking through Batman's files," the black-haired Boy Wonder began. "I found that there have been a few targets. Seemingly unrelated, but I've cross-referenced tons of data and I think I've found a pattern,"

Reese had to admit, Dick's plan had been pretty ingenious, but Wally still looked a bit discombobulated.

"Looking through?" the redhead echoed before his eyes widened. "You mean you _hacked_ into Batman's files!" 

Wally's exclamation was louder than the speedster probably intended, and for a moment, the four of them froze, but when none of the civilians surrounding them reacted, Rese relaxed again, before crossing her arms and fixing Wally with a look.

"You sound surprised," she deadpanned, but Wally only shrugged. Figuring they were getting off-track again, Reese sighed. "Look," she began. "Based on what we're saying, this CEO is probably next on the list,"

"Exactly," Dick added. "All the other targets have been made to look like accidents, random muggings gone wrong, things like that--anyway, I figured we could look into this,"

"And what brought this to your attention in the first place?" Aqualad asked, looking a bit more interested, though Reese knew the Atlantean wasn't completely swayed yet. So, Reese figured, she'd have to convince him.

"Robin and I have been looking into Cadmus the last couple of days," she started. "Things like corporate holdings, who they do business with, that sort of thing--and we noticed that a few of the business people they've worked with have been met with untimely... _accidents_ ,"

" _You two_ ," Wally suddenly cut in, waving a finger between Reese and Dick. "Want _us_ ," a gesture to him and Aqualad. "To look into this on a _hunch_ that someone _might_ have put a hit out on the CEO of this company. Cool,"

The last word was spoken with deep-set sarcasm, but Reese and Robin both crossed their arms and glared at Wally, prompting the speedster to stop his tirade.

"What about Superboy and Miss Martian?" Aqualad interrupted before the three others could explode into an argument, and at his words, Reese winced.

"We don't want to get them in trouble before this ' _team_ '," the brunette added, using her fingers as quotation marks. "Even gets started,"

"Plus," Dick added. "If you think about it, _we_ haven't had a real outing as a team yet,"

"Unless you count Cadmus," Reese muttered to him, and Robin waved a hand.

"Unless you count Cadmus," he echoed before Wally suddenly split into a grin.

"Let's do it!" the speedster exclaimed, before turning to the still-dubious Atlantean sitting next to him. "Come on, Aqualad, this could be fun!"

"Think of it as a training session, then," Robin tried to convince Aqualad. "We haven't even had one of _those_ as a team yet,"

"Then why are Superboy and Miss Martian not here?" the older blond boy asked, and Reese felt her temper start to fray. "They are part of the team, are they not?"

"Yeah..." Dick trailed off. "But, _we've_ been around longer than they have, and _we_ haven't even had much interaction with each other. We're always doing our own crime-fighting thing with our own partners,"

"Speak for yourself," Wally spoke up, leaning back in his chair and jerking his head in Dick and Reese's general direction. "You and Little Miss Pretty Bird over here spend pretty much all your free time together, regardless if it's with GA or Bats. Even _I_ don't see you _that_ much. Gotta say though, Rob, I'm a little jealous,"

Both of the younger birds blushed a cherry-colored red, and Wally's smirk grew wider before Reese controlled herself and sent the redhead a glare.

"Robin and I just figured it'd be a good way to clear up any residual cobwebs before the _entire_ team starts going on missions," the brunette explained, getting fed up with Wally's constant teasing. 

And his next words most definitely did _not_ help her temper.

"Cobwebs?" he echoed, smirking like a madman. "Man, you _have_ been in the Batcave too much!"

Reese went to throw herself at Wally, but Dick had already flashed an arm out and was currently holding her back. Most of the time, Reese was a relatively calm person, but Wally really knew how to push her buttons, and he _enjoyed_ doing it too.

"Look," Batman's protege cut in, digging his heels into the sidewalk so Reese wouldn't drag him around on her way to kill Wally. "If we're right about this, and I'm pretty sure we are, that means we're running out of time to save Selena Gonzalez before she gets killed. So, are you in or not?"

"I am not sure about this..." Aqualad trailed off, but Wally, it seemed, was totally convinced.

" _I am_!" he exclaimed again. "Count me in! Do you think Selena likes younger guys?"

"Wally," Reese muttered again, calming down enough that she no longer wanted to hit the redhaired speedster into tomorrow. "You're disgusting,"

"You have your type, babe," Wally said nonchalantly, lacing his fingers behind his head. "And I have mine," 

"How do we know all of these random accidents and muggings are his put out on people and why do the two of you," Aqualad gives a nod of his head towards Reese and Dick. "Think they are all related?"

"Who do you guys think is _behind_ all this?" Wally added before Reese and Robin glanced at each other for a moment before turning back to Aqualad and Kid Flash.

"Behind it?" Dick echoed. "Hard to tell. Could be Cadmus but none of the evidence points to them,"

"But," Reese added. "Who do Robin and I think was _hired_ to target Selena Gonzalez?" For a moment, the young brunette sent another glance towards Dick, and at the Boy Wonder's subtle nod, she sighed. "We're pretty sure it was the League of Shadows,"

" _Whoa_!" Wally exclaimed, shooting forward in his chair as his mouth gaped open. "Really?" 

Reese figured she'd have the same reaction if she was told that a secret organization of assassins and megalomaniacs were targeting business partners of Project Cadmus. That _had_ been her reaction when she and Dick had dug up this little piece of information a few days ago before Batman had shown them to Mount Justice.

"Yeah," Dick said quietly. "Silverbird and I think these ' _accidents_ ' were executed by them,"

" _Executed_ ," Wally muttered. "That seems like an appropriate word," 

Reese didn't know if the redhead was joking or not, but a question from Aqualad stopped her from thinking too much about it.

"Wait," the Atlantean cut in. "Who is the ' _League of Shadows_ '?" 

Wally stared at Aqualad as if the older boy had just grown a second head. "What?" the speedster asked. "You've never heard of the _League of Shadows_? Have you been living in a cave or something?"

"More like underwater," Aqualad deadpanned, and Reese rolled her eyes as Wally pursed his lips.

"Oh, yeah," the redhead muttered before Dick began to explain what exactly the League of Shadows was.

"The League of Shadows," Robin began. "Is a deadly organization with their head stuck in a whole bunch of stuff all over the world. Killing is only part of their business,"

"Allegedly," Reese added, flicking her eyes between Dick and Aqualad as she continued her partner's thought. "They're so good at what they do that the Shadows have never been caught or convicted for any of their crimes,"

"So, just to reiterate..." Aqualad began. "You two--" he gestured towards Dick and Reese. "--want the four of us to look into what _may_ or _may not_ be a sanctioned assassination attempt on the CEO, carried out by a covert organization called the League of Shadows, without any of our teammates _and_ authorization from Batman or the rest of the Justice League?"

When he put it like that, Reese couldn't help but notice the similarities between what they were trying to do now, and their excursion to Cadmus four days ago.

And considering how pleased Bruce and the rest of the League had been as a result of _that_ whole debacle, Reese couldn't wait to see how thrilled Batman would be this time around. That is...if he found out about it.

"Pretty much," Dick answered after a few seconds, shrugging as Wally pumped a fist in the air.

"Well then," the speedster exclaimed. "What are we waiting for?"

**C E N T R A L C I T Y**   
**July 9, 19:54 CDT**

Silverbird was crouched on a roof across the street from the building where Selena Gonzalez's company was located with Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, and her teeth were gritted together.

Reese took back what she had said earlier about being calm enough to not want to pummel Wally. Currently, the speedster was sitting on top of an air conditioning unit, while Aqualad leaned against the side of it, and Robin and Silverbird crouched on the edge of the roof, looking down to the window that showed into Selena's office, where the woman was still working.

Wally was mouthing his way through a bag of potato chips, and though Reese had seen the redhead eat before, had seen how _much_ the redhead could eat, that didn't mean she wasn't still thoroughly disgusted by the way he did it.

"Let me hit him," she hissed to Robin from the corner of her mouth, causing Dick to look minutely away from the binoculars he was using to spy into Selena's office. "Just once,"

"No," the Boy Wonder whispered back, just as softly. "That won't solve anything,"

"It'll make me feel better," Reese retorted, making Dick quirk an eyebrow behind his mask. " _Please_?"

For a moment, Robin stared at her, and Silverbird thought he was about to say yes (Dick never could say " _no_ " to her), but the Boy Wonder just turned back to his binoculars.

"No,"

Reese, despite it all, found herself pouting, before shifting to lay on her stomach beside Dick as they both stared across the street at Selena's office.

"Ugh, You're no fun," she muttered and saw Dick smirk from the corner of her eye.

"Sorry to disappoint, pretty bird," he responded before a groan from Kid Flash made both birds glance over their shoulders.

"Why is she still at work?" the redhead asked around a mouthful of chips. "Everyone else went home hours ago,"

"Could you _not_ chew so loud?" Reese asked as Aqualad sent a deadpan look towards Robin and Silverbird.

"At this point," the Atlantean began. "I wish he could feed with a filter system much like a humpback whale would. It would not be as _nauseating_ to watch,"

"Ha, ha!" Kid Flash said sarcastically, before gulping down his current mouthful. "Very funny,"

"Could you just keep it down?" Robin asked, glancing over his shoulder, and Wally tilted his head.

"Which one?" the speedster asked. "My voice or my chewing?"

" _Both_!" Dick and Reese snapped in unison, but Wally only threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"I can't help it!" the redhead exclaimed, dropping his chip bag to the ground. Thank _God_. "I'm _bored._ And I need to eat! We've been sitting here for hours, do you know how hard that is for me to do? She's been in that building all day, all of the employees have gone home, she's all alone. If they _were_ going to go after her, don't you think they would've done it by now?"

"No," Silverbird answered simply, making the three boys turn and look at her as Reese's enhanced vision caught something on the side of the building.

"How do you know _that_ , Little Miss Smarty-Pants?" Kid Flash exclaimed, and Reese sent him a scowl.

"Call me that again and I really _will_ hit you," she muttered, before sighing heavily. "And I _know that_ ," Reese continued. "Because the Shadows are doing it right now,"

Robin looked through his binoculars again as Wally popped his head over the top of the roof the four young heroes were currently standing on.

"I don't see anything," Kid Flash muttered, but Aqualad just pointed towards the building wall just beneath Selena Gonzalez's office window.

"There," the Atlantean said simply, pointing to where a dark-clad figure could be seen crawling up the wall. "Below the window...movement,"

Realizing the four of them were running out of time to save Selena before the Shadows got to her, Reese quickly shot a grappling arrow towards the office building, Robin cackling as he followed her.

But, Kid Flash, being the speedster that he is, was the first one to reach the Shadow on the side of the building, and Reese's eyes widened as she saw Wally's legs get wrapped up in some sort of-- _wait_. Was that _spider webbing_?

"Name's _Black Spider,_ " the Shadow sneered. "...Fast dude," Black Spider dodged to the side as Robin slammed into the side of the building next to him, and though his mask covered his entire face, Silverbird had a feeling he was smirking underneath it. "And the two of you need to be faster than that,"

Black Spider shot some webbing towards the two young birds, but Dick and Reese both dodged, the webbing instead shooting between them.

"Missed," Robin said calmly, but Black Spider only tilted his head to the side.

"Did I?" the Shadow reiterated, and Silverbird snapped her head up in time to see Wally falling towards her and Dick, his legs still wrapped up in Black Spider's webbing.

"Look out below!" the speedster cried, just as he slammed into the two younger heroes, loosening Reese's grip on her rappelling line and bringing all three of them tumbling towards the ground.

But, before they could go ' _splat'_ , Robin whipped out his grappler and shot it towards the roof of the building, grabbing Silverbird with his free hand as Wally locked his arms around Dick's neck.

Reese couldn't help it, she looked down and felt her entire body freeze up as she saw they were still a good fifty feet above the ground. _Heights_...not exactly her forte.

The brunette curled up into a ball and locked both hands around Dick's wrist, squeezing Robin's hand like a vice, and no doubt cutting off the Boy Wonder's circulation a little bit. Reese also may have squeaked, judging from the slightly concerned look Dick sent her as he started to loosen his grappling line.

"Wow," Wally added as Robin lowered the three of them to the sidewalk, Silverbird's legs feeling a bit like wet noodles when she was finally on solid ground. "We _so_ didn't take that guy down!"

"No. Just the opposite," Dick muttered as he glanced up towards the building the three of them had just been dangling off the side of. "He took _us_ down. You okay?" Reese glanced up from where her hands had been braced against her knees.

She opened her mouth to say that would be (eventually), but another voice stopped her and made Silverbird spin around, another arrow already nocked and at the ready.

"She won't be," an older man with white hair said as he stalked towards them, his right hand instead being a sinister-looking metal hook. A hook that was currently holding Aqualad as if he were a fisherman's daily catch. "Because Hook's gonna take all three of you out! Say goodbye,"

Reese couldn't shoot her arrow without risking Aqualad's safety, so she held off. But, things got even weirder when the other Shadow's hook suddenly extended, the curved blade looking like it was connected to a chain inside Hook's arm, and Aqualad was launched towards Silverbird, Robin, and Kid Flash.

Reese felt her eyes widen, before she and Dick dove to one side, while Wally managed to dodge to the other, the wall behind where the three had just been standing exploding into rubble as their Atlantean friend slammed into it.

"This is getting a _little_ bit extreme," Silverbird muttered as she, Robin, and KF crouched in front of Hook, with Aqualad's water-bearer backpack still connected to Hook's... _hook_.

"The three of us can take this clown down togeth--" Wally began, but Dick quickly cut the redhead off.

"Silverbird and I can handle Hook," he began. " _You_ need to get upstairs and to the target _before_ that other guy does,"

Kid Flash looked a little bit freaked, and even Silverbird was questioning Robin's planning skills by now. 

She'd worked with the Boy Wonder for years, but even she wasn't a telepath. She couldn't read Dick's mind all the time. Couldn't know _exactly_ what he was thinking at every moment of the day. 

From the corner of her eye, Reese saw Wally send her a look that plainly said ' _what's his deal?'_ , but, all the brunette could do was shrug. She had no idea.

"What about Aqual--" Wally began, but again, Dick cut him off.

" _Go_!" Robin shouted. "Now!" Then, he leaped towards Hook and Aqualad, smoke bombs already at the ready, Kid Flash running off to protect Selena Gonzalez as Silverbird followed Dick's lead.

"Looks like it's just me and the lovebirds," Hook smirked and despite the potentially perilous situation, Reese found herself almost giddy.

"I don't think so," she said simply, before leaping into the air after Robin and executing a perfect mid-air somersault. While she was _in_ the air, the brunette switched out her arrow, and as soon as she had an opening, Reese shot her smokescreen arrow at Hook's feet.

"We'll see about...that?" Silverbird heard Hook's confused exclamation as the smoke cloud cleared, and Reese and Robin were nowhere to be seen.

Currently, they were perched on a small shed behind Hook's head, out of sight. When Kid Flash sped out a side exit of Gonzalez's building, the CEO tucked securely in his arms, Rese saw Wally's face turn into the epitome of confusion, while Hook, on the other hand, could not have been more pleased with himself.

"Looks like your friends left you high and dry!" the Shadow exclaimed as he aimed his hook towards the redhead. 

That was when Robin and Silverbird moved in, leaping off their spot on the shed and jumping back towards Hook and Kid Flash.

"Hey, _Captain Hook_!" Dick exclaimed, just before he lashed his foot out, catching Hook straight in the jaw and kicking the assassin to the side. Meanwhile, Reese vaulted herself off Hook's shoulder, joining Robin behind the Shadow's back as Wally deposited Selena relatively safe on the other side of the battlefield.

"Gotta help my buddies!" the brunette heard the speedster exclaim to the CEO. "Be right back! You stay _right here_!"

As Silverbird, Robin, and Kid Flash crouched on the short grass in front of the street, Hook turning around to face the three young heroes with a sneer, Reese glanced at Dick, who gave a single nod.

This time, she _knew_ what the Boy Wonder was thinking.

"Kid Flash!" Robin shouted, turning towards Wally. "Maneuver 63!" But, at the same time, Wally shouted towards Dick and Reese.

"Robin, Silverbird! High and low!"

Considering she and Dick had already started to jump through the air, Reese realized that it was too late to stop, and the three of them slammed into each other, before flopping on the ground, severely dazed.

"What were you doing?" Silverbird muttered towards Kid Flash, stars flashing in front of her eyes, and Reese heard Wally grunt.

" _Me_?" the speedster asked, sounding fairly indignant. "I said high and low! When Flash and I tackle a baddie--"

"We're _not_ the Flash," Robin cut in, and Kid Flash sat up rubbing his head.

"No duh," he retorted sharply, before glancing around. "What about Aqual--" But, once again, before the redhead could finish his thought, he was interrupted.

Though, this time, it was because Hook shot his hook in between the three dazed heroes, making the nearby dirt and grass explode. Luckily, Silverbird, Robin, and Kid Flash managed to dodge, but it was still too close a call.

"The guy just got shot through a wall!" Dick shouted towards Wally. "He's gonna be out for a while!"

As Reese was trying to get her bearings again, she heard Wally let out a startled and slightly frustrated exclamation.

"Seriously? _Again_?"

Glancing over her shoulder, Silverbird saw that Black Spider had jumped down from the building, presumably after Kid Flash got Selena out of her office, and had wrapped Wally's legs up in webbing again.

The thing was though, that Reese was so preoccupied with Wally, she didn't the hook flying towards her until it was too late.

Hook's curved weapon/hand slammed into Silverbird's chest with what felt like the force of a freight train. Not that Reese had ever been hit by a train before but...metaphorically speaking.

Luckily, the jacket of her suit was shock-insulated, and thus getting hit by a hook did not fully incapacitate Reese the moment it hit the young brunette. What it _did_ do was launch her backward, right into Robin, and both of them flew back until they slammed into a nearby tree.

Reese's head snapped back, the base of her head hitting a jutting knot on the tree trunk, and everything went black...

**C E N T R A L C I T Y**   
**July 9, 22:08 CDT**

When Silverbird finally blinked her eyes open, her stomach was in her throat, and it took almost every ounce of willpower that Reese had in her not to throw up. 

It also might have been because she was currently hanging upside down, her, Robin, KF, and Aqualad tied up to their shoulders in synthetic spider webbing.

Reese groaned a bit, feeling her head pound with every beat of her heart, and also felt the shift of fabric from beside her, turning her head slightly to see that she was pressed against Dick's shoulder, Wally on the brunette's other side, with Silverbird back-to-back with Aqualad.

"Your head okay?" Robin whispered though Reese noticed that Dick looked probably as bad as she felt. And because she wasn't exactly sure how to give the Boy Wonder an honest answer without giving him an aneurysm, Silverbird shrugged and stayed silent.

"Your girlfriend's going to have a lot worse than a headache when we're through with all of you," a voice cut in from below where the four of them were dangling, and Reese went to roll her eyes, but stopped when her stomach rolled again.

_Nope_. _Not going to do that._

As it were, she still needed to see what was going on so, _carefully,_ Silverbird looked up, or rather, _down_ , and saw Hook and Black Spider standing on the floor of whatever office they were in, with the web-slinging Shadow leveling a sword at Selena Gonzalez's throat. Reese's bow and quiver were sitting on a nearby table, the silver-and-black equipment practically mocking the brunette.

Hook had been the one to speak, and Reese narrowed her eyes at him as much as she dared, unless she _actually_ wanted to get sick.

"I'm not his girlfriend," she muttered, but the pirate-like assassin just shrugged, as if the information meant nothing to him.

"Coulda fooled me," he said finally, but before he could continue, Wally suddenly shifted on Reese's other side, and she assumed the speedster was blinking his eyes open, judging from what Wally said next.

"Aw, crap,"

For the next couple of minutes, considering Aqualad was still out cold, Reese tried to think of a plan. What it was going to be, she wasn't exactly sure, but it was better than having the blood rush to her head and making her blackout.

Her arms were locked against her sides within the confines of Black Spider's webbing, which was why Reese was so startled when she felt Dick's gloved fingers against hers.

Silverbird turned her head slightly to see what his deal was but froze when Robin narrowed his eyes slightly. Then, carefully, and out of sight of Hook and Black Spider, Dick took his partner's smaller hand in his and set it against his waist.

_Where his utility belt was_. 

Reese's eyes widened as she realized that Hook and Black Spider hadn't confiscated Robin's utility belt when the four of them had been captured. Obviously, the two Shadows hadn't thought that it was very useful when Dick was wrapped up in the webbing.

_Their mistake._

As she glanced up at Dick again, the two of them had a brief conversation with their eyes, even though Reese wasn't fully able to see Robin's navy blues behind the white lenses of his mask.

They couldn't try and escape now. Aqualad was still unconscious, and as much as Reese semi-respected the older Atlantean, at the moment, he'd just be dead weight. 

Wally wasn't privy to the ocular convo, so he just thought the two birds kept making weird facial expressions at each other.

Reese knew they needed to bide their time, to wait for an opportunity when Hook and Black Spider's guards were down, otherwise, there could potentially be five assassinations tonight, and she was _not_ about to die before she turned thirteen.

"We need to get out of this," Kid Flash muttered out loud a few seconds later, and Silverbird shifted a bit to glance over her shoulder, her breathing starting to get a bit labored.

Reese didn't know how long she had been hanging upside down, but it had to have been a while because her eyes were beginning to strain, _and_ she couldn't breathe very well.

Plus, she had a headache, but that also could have been the concussion from slamming into the tree knot.

"I'm pretty sure Aqualad is still out," Silverbird said after a few moments, but it seemed she spoke too soon because, at the moment, Aqualad jerked, as if he had abruptly awoken and realized that the four of them were trapped and currently hanging upside down.

"What..." the Atlantean began. "Where am I?" 

"You're awake?" Reese asked, shifting her shoulders a bit. "That's good. But, we have both bad news..."

"And _worse_ news," Wally added, just as Dick let out a scoff.

" _Sure_ ," the Boy Wonder began drily. "Let's hang out...have a few laughs, it'll all be _fine_!"

"This whole thing was your and Silverbird's idea, genius!" Kid Flash snapped back at him, to which Robin just grumbled more unintelligible words under his breath as Reese rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, Hook and Black Spider, the two Shadows responsible for this whole mess, were looking on in sick and twisted amusement.

"So," Black Spider started after a moment. "You four junior-grade _heroes_ thought you could stop us?"

Selena Gonzalez, from where she was still being held with a sword to her neck, breathed out a small plea for help, but the Shadows ignored her.

"Yeah, what were you thinking?" Hook added though Reese wasn't entirely sure if his question was rhetorical or not. "This is _Hook_ and _Black Spider_ you got here! We're good at what we do. We're professionals,"

"Yeah," Silverbird continued, narrowing her eyes. "Professional hitmen for the _League of Shadows_ sent to murder an innocent woman!"

"I _wouldn't_ go around throwing names of deadly groups like that if you know what's good for you, sweetheart," Black Spider was undoubtedly smirking beneath his mask, and Reese _hated_ it. Hated him.

"I am _not_ your sweetheart," she retorted sharply, wishing her hands were free so she could punch Black Spider in the face. 

She was growing fed up with this whole operation, and her temper was on its last threads. But, before Reese could explode, Dick interrupted them both.

"Why are you after her?" Robin asked, his voice snappish as he jerked his head in Selena's general direction. "Why is Selena Gonzalez being targeted?"

"You're not in any position to be asking questions," Black Spider retorted. "...but we _are_. How did you know we'd be here?"

It wasn't as if Reese was just about to _tell_ both of the Shadows of the way she and Dick had investigated all the recent hits connected to Cadmus, how Robin had hacked into the Batcomputer, figured out where and when this one was going down, then had asked Reese to help him convince Wally and Aqualad to come along with them.

She didn't say that. Actually, Silverbird didn't say anything. She, along with Wally, Dick, and Aqualad, kept her mouth shut, divulging no information. None at all.

A fact that Hook was none too pleased about it, considering about five seconds later, his hook was pointed straight at Reese's face, the curved blade gleaming under the fluorescent office lights.

"He asked you a question," the white-haired man said, but Silverbird only smirked. 

Because she could feel Robin next to her, working one of his wing-dings against the webbing, slowly but steadily slicing through the stringy white material.

"Like you," Aqualad spoke up from over Reese's shoulder, further distracting Hook and Black Spider from what the Boy Wonder was doing. "We do not have to answer any questions,"

Hook didn't like that answer.

"Yeah," he agreed reluctantly. "But, you're going to 'cause you screwed up and got caught! Face it, you guys never even had a chance against us!"

"What?" Robin finally asked, his lip twitching up into a smirk. "We came here to _stop_ you from hurting her, and we did!"

"Ha!" Hook barked. "Are you kidding me? You stopped us, yeah, for _five minutes._ You see what's happening here right? You lost!"

But, at that moment, Reese felt the webbing around slacken, and her grin widened as she realized that Dick had finally managed to slice through the strings.

"You didn't take my utility belt," the Boy Wonder said simply, and Silverbird almost couldn't hold in her giggling at the way confusion suddenly erupted on Hook's face. 

"Wait..." the Shadow trailed off, a bit slow on the uptake. "Your what now?"

"You never took my utility belt away," Robin repeated, still smirking. "You know, the thing that lets us escape?"

"What is he talking about--" Hook was cut off as Dick shouted ' _Now!'_ , prompting Reese, Wally, and Aqualad to shred the rest of the webbing as they escaped from it, the four of them leaping to the sides to escape any nasty surprises Hook or Black Spider might throw their way now that they were free.

"Have I ever told you how much I love the utility belt?" Silverbird exclaimed as she and Robin jumping into the air above Hook's head, with Dick landing a solid kick to the Shadow's face as he grinned. 

"What can I say, pretty bird?" he exclaimed, though inside the Boy Wonder was preening like a peacock at the compliment. "It's the one accessory that goes with everything!"

"They're free!" Black Spider shouted as Hook sputtered on the floor where he had landed after Robin kicked him. 

"Let's get out of here!" the white-haired Shadow added. "These kids have wasted too much of our time here already. So, let's put some _space_ ," Hook added, using his hook to make the wall next to him explode as Silverbird and Aqualad leaped over another blast of webbing. "Between us and them!"

Landing on the floor again, Aqualad glanced over his shoulder at the three younger heroes behind him, ready to tell them the plan...only to realize that Kid Flash and Robin had disappeared, and judging from the red-and-orange streak going in one direction, and the distinctive cackle in the other, they had split up.

_Again_.

"This is _not_ a strategy that has worked before!" the Atlantean exclaimed, prompting Silverbird, the only one still standing behind him, to give a small shrug.

"You can't blame them for being overexuberant," Reese began, but Aqualad only sent her a look.

"I can if it gets them _killed_ ," he retorted, and the young brunette's face turned grim before she walked closer. 

"Then what's the plan?"

➳➳➳

Trust Dick and Wally to get themselves stuck to the wall by Black Spider's webbing, as Hook pointed his hook straight at them.

This was the situation that Silverbird suddenly found herself in, as she and Aqualad entered the next room.

"Just a sec," Hook was saying, presumedly as a response to one of Black Spider's orders. "I want to leave them with a lasting impression,"

Then he launched his hook, the curved blade hurtling straight towards Robin and Kid Flash. But, before the hook was either able to impale Reese's friends, or squish them (maybe even both), Aqualad made the water from a nearby cooler into a shield, and he lurched in front of Dick and Wally, the hook hitting the glowing blue shield instead.

When the hook hit Aqualad's water-shield, the curved blade bounced ricocheting off up into the ceiling, making the plaster and cement rain down all around them as Silverbird used a razor-sharp arrow tip to slice through the webbing holding Robin and Kid Flash to the wall.

"We need a plan of attack if we want to save that woman," Aqualad spoke up as Hook stood on the other side of the room, him and Black Spider both thoroughly stunned by the recent change of events. "One that involves all _four_ of us,"

"If you've got one," Wally began as he tore some webbing from his face. "Call it," 

Aqualad stayed silent for a few moments, gazing across the room at where Hook and Black Spider were standing, still holding Selena before the Atlantean turned back to the three younger heroes, his jaw set.

"Robin, Silverbird," Aqualad began, keeping his voice low so the Shadows wouldn't be able to hear. "We need a diversion! Kid Flash, the woman,"

To give Wally a chance to speed Selena out of danger, Dick and Reese leaped into the air, with Robin throwing smoke-bombs down onto the floor, while Silverbird shot a smokescreen arrow towards the Shadows, further obscuring the assassins' vision, regardless of whether or not they could see them.

As the cloud of choking smoke spread throughout the room, Reese glanced over her shoulder at where Wally was still standing and remembering what Aqualad had said about the speedster getting Selena Gonzalez to safety, the brunette tried to convince Kid Flash to get out of here.

"KF!" she exclaimed, glancing sparingly towards where Aqualad was tussling with Black Spider. "You heard what Aqualad said! Take Selena and go! Get her to safety! She's the one the Shadows are after!"

But, it seemed like Wally just wouldn't be swayed.

"No way!" the speedster exclaimed. "We tried that when we first got here and tangled with these guys! They kicked our cans all the way down the street and back! We're in this _together_ ," Kid Flash added, conviction lacing his tone with a finality that Reese found strangely...admirable for the pranking speedster. "I'm _staying_!"

"Are you two done being all mushy with each other?" Silverbird heard Robin snap from across the room, a split second before Dick slammed into Reese, tackling her to the ground as Hook's hook flew inches from the brunette's face, so close it moved her hair and she was able to see her reflection in the gleaming silver blade.

"Thanks," Reese breathed out, eyes wide as Aqualad took her place fighting Hook, and the Boy Wonder sent his partner a smile before jumping towards Black Spider, high enough in the air that he dodged the blast of webbing that the Shadow shot his way.

"Incoming!" Robin shouted as he tumbled towards Black Spider, but the Shadow managed to dodge.

Even as KF managed to speed Selena Gonzalez out of the way of Black Spider's various attacks, and because Aqualad almost got taken out by Hook (..again), Silverbird knew they were fighting a losing battle.

"This is getting us nowhere!" Robin shouted as he regrouped with Silverbird, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, plus Selena Gonzalez, in one corner of the room after throwing a pair of wing-dings towards Hook, incapacitating the Shadow for the next couple of seconds.

"Agreed," Aqualad said firmly. "Perhaps we need to steal away--"

Unfortunately, before the Atlantean could finish, he was interrupted as the five of them were thus cornered by both Hook _and_ Black Spider.

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen," Black Spider said first, literally climbing up the side of the wall.

"You guys interfered in something that had nothing to do with you..." Hook added as he sneered at the five cornered on the opposite side of the room. "...And now you're going to pay for it--"

"With your lives!" As Hook shot his hook towards Reese and the others, Black Spider used a string of webbing to launch the hook even farther, using it as leverage to slam the curved blade into the ceiling above the heads of Selena, Reese, Dick, Wally, and Aqualad.

Selena let out a scream, one that made Silverbird's ears ring, as Kid Flash gaped at the ceiling above them.

"Uh, this is not good," Wally muttered, stating the obvious, as Aqualad turned his water-bearers into twin maces, powered by the nearby cooler.

"Take the girl," the Atlantean said to the redhead. "Find another exit. Meet one floor below,"

"But--" KF began to protest, but this time, Robin was the one who interrupted him.

" _Go_!" Dick snapped again. "We'll meet you down there!"

With that, Wally sped Selena away, just as Aqualad slammed his water-mace into the floor, breaking it and allowing him, Robin, and Silverbird to fall through, the three of them landing in crouches on the floor below just as Kid Flash got there himself, Selena held securely in his arms.

"I don't understand," Selena was saying as Wally skidded to a stop. "What's happening? Who _are_ those people?"

"We need to find the quickest way out of this building," Robin said, ignoring Selena's question and instead looked towards Silverbird and Aqualad.

"They're not going to stop looking for us," Reese began, and Aqualad gave a small nod.

"Agreed," the Atlantean said. "They will be looking for us outside, easier to pick us off! So, we need to go stealth if we want to turn the tables on them and end this,"

"What do you have in min-- _Whoa!"_ Wally was cut off, once again, from finishing his thought, as the hook suddenly shot through the ceiling of the room they were currently in, almost shearing KF's head clean off.

"Disperse," Aqualad continued, sounding completely calm, despite the situation. "Hide and wait for my signal,"

Robin and Silverbird had just ducked together behind a nearby office desk when Hook and Black Spider crashed into the room, sending dust and plaster raining everywhere.

"Come out, you snot-nosed kids!" Silverbird heard Hook sneer, and she decided she'd hide for a bit longer, rather than face _his_ ugly mug.

"The minute you get outside we'll know where you are," Black Spider added. "You can hide in here, but only for so long,"

Reese felt all the dust from the ceiling gathering in front of her face, and it tickled her nose. But, before she could sneeze, Dick slapped a hand over the bottom half of her face, making the brunette choke her sneeze back, causing her to make a weird wheezing sound.

On the other side of the desk, Hook and Black Spider's voices stopped, and for all of thirty seconds, the two birds didn't move a muscle, they hardly even breathed, for fear of the two Shadows finding them.

Then, the office desk beside where Robin and Silverbird were crouched was destroyed into splinters as Hook punched it with his metal hook-hand, and that was when Dick decided it'd be a prime time for him and Reese to get a move on.

As Hook and Black Spider were distracted destroying the other desks in the office space, Robin and Silverbird darted out from behind the one where they crouching, shooting out of the office and behind a corner before Hook and Black Spider even knew what was happening.

On the other side of the room, Aqualad was crouched in the shadowy interior of another office, watching as Hook and Black Spider smashed the other desks, but he showed no reaction when Dick and Reese popped up next to him.

"How do you want to approach this?" the Boy Wonder hissed from the corner of his mouth, and for a moment, Aqualad was silent, thinking.

"I can take Hook," the Atlantean murmured after a few seconds. "But, Black Spider is fast and can strike multiple targets from a distance with his webbing. Do you think the two of you, plus Kid Flash, can take him out?"

Dick and Reese glanced at each other for another moment, both of them wearing identical grins, before merging back into the shadows of the office.

"On it," Robin said quietly. "Give us five seconds, then make your move,"

Silverbird almost laughed with how utterly distracted the two assassins were with destroying the desks in the office where she and Robin had been hiding earlier.

I mean, it was pretty obvious that the two pre-teen birds weren't there _now_ , but the Shadows just weren't deterred. 

As it were, that meant that Hook and Black Spider also weren't paying attention when Dick and Reese darted through the hallway just outside of the assassins' field of vision, the metallic glint from Silverbird's jacket looking like little more than a reflection of light from the Central City nightlife outside.

They found Wally crouched in front of a wall of cabinets, pawing through boxes of what looked like _Ka-Pow!_ energy drinks, with Selena Gonzalez cowering against the wall next to him.

Reese had heard of the beverage before, but she wasn't what you would call a fan. She found the flavor disgusting, and it was also so full of caffeine that, whenever the twelve-year-old drank it, she was bouncing off the walls for hours, like whenever a speedster had an espresso.

"Are you sure you should be drinking that?" the brunette spoke up after a moment. "I mean, there is a _lot_ of caffeine in those things,"

"Yeah," Robin agreed, before pointing his thumb in Silverbird's general direction. "You should see her when _she_ drinks them," 

In retaliation, Reese punched Dick in the ribs, causing the Boy Wonder to rub his side as Wally ignored the both of them, instead opting to unscrew the top off of one of the energy drink bottles and take a huge gulp.

"Hey, Holmes and Watson," KF said after a moment, making Robin and Silverbird turn and look at him. "You two have a plan? Or are we just going to stand here yapping until we all die?"

"If you can pay attention for maybe the next fifteen seconds of your life, we would tell you," Reese snapped, before Dick pushed between both of them before they could get into _another_ argument.

"Yes, KF," Robin answered instead. "We have a plan. One involving those energy drinks of yours," Wally quirked an eyebrow in question, but he couldn't exactly argue with it, because at that moment, Aqualad moved to confront Hook and Black Spider across the room.

Reese poked her head over a windowsill so she'd be able to see what was going on, in time to see the two Shadows standing with their backs to her, Dick, and Wally, while Aqualad faced them, the eel tattoos that crisscrossed his arms glowing a bright electric blue.

"Get a load of the human _glow stick_ ," Hook sneered.

"End this now," Black Spider added. "Give us the girl,"

"That will not happen," Aqualad said firmly, a statement that obviously did _not_ make Black Spider very happy.

"What are you going to do?" the Shadow asked. "I checked this floor, there aren't any _water coolers_ around for you to pull your water tricks with,"

"You are correct. _However_..." Aqualad began, as the floor in front of Hook and Black Spider began to rumble and shake. "We are standing directly over a bathroom,"

The floor beneath Hook suddenly exploded, as the wave of water underneath overtook the Shadow instantly making him fly back onto the floor. Then, with their plan finally in motion, Kid Flash sped forward.

"Hey, B.S.!" the redhead shouted, making Black Spider turn just as Wally lobbed half a dozen bottles of the energy drinks at the assassin. "Looks like you could use an _energy shot_!"

Black Spider easily caught the bottles in a blast of webbing, seeming utterly nonchalant about the whole thing.

"This isn't going to stop me, Kid," the Shadow said, just as Robin darted forward and pressed a button on the assassin's gauntlet.

"Yeah," Dick agreed. "But, I'm betting this does!"

" _No_!" Black Spider exclaimed. "What are you doing? The pressure--"

Silverbird decked him with an uppercut just as the gauntlet exploded, webbing flying everywhere. Reese had shielded her eyes when the gauntlet exploded, and when she opened them again, it was to find that some of Black Spider's webbing hadn't landed on the various debris around the four of them.

Instead, it looked like Reese had gotten into an argument with a family of arachnids...and _lost_. Silverbird waved a hand around wildly, trying to get some of the webbings off, as Wally bent over at the waist, laughing like a maniac.

"You...look... _ridiculous_ ," the speedster managed to gasp out between his giggles, and Reese flicked her hand again, making a clump of webbing land directly in the redhead's face, cutting off his laugh, as Robin looked around.

"Hey," Dick began slowly. "Where's the girl?"

The four of them looked around, and that was when Reese realized that, aside from the two Shadows unconscious on the other side of the room, they were alone.

Selena Gonzalez was gone.

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
July 10, 22:12 EDT**

Twenty-four hours later, Silverbird, Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash were standing in the main cave area of Mount Justice, their new headquarters, no closer to figuring out where Selena could have gone.

"We looked _everywhere_ for her," Wally was saying, throwing his arms out to either side. "She was pretty scared; she probably just ran and is hiding out somewhere,"

"We checked her premises," Aqualad added grimly. "And those of her family. She is nowhere to be found,"

"Listen," Robin cut in suddenly, making the four of them turn to the holo-screen that Dick had pulled up, where a GBS newscast was playing a recent report.

" _Police say it is too early to tell if the disappearance of Farano Enterprises CEO Selena Gonzalez is in any way connected to what happened at their corporate headquarters last night..._ " Cat Grant was saying, and Reese's stomach suddenly felt as if someone had dropped a rock in it. "... _Although it is a good possibility as the men captured on the premises and allegedly responsible for all the property damage have themselves escaped custody, as they were being transported to a maximum holding facility,_ "

Reese suddenly groaned as she realized what had happened. What she had _missed_.

"I'm such an _idiot_!" she exclaimed, running her fingers through her hair before whirling around to face the boys. "In Central City, Black Spider said that the moment we got outside, they would know where we were..."

"There were more Shadows outside!" Robin breathed, mask lenses widening. "They're the _League of Shadows_! Why _wouldn't_ they have more agents outside?"

"So you mean Selena is..." Wally trailed off, not able to finish the sentence, but he didn't need to. They all knew what he meant to say.

Selena Gonzalez was dead. And they hadn't been able to stop it.


	6. 4. Welcome to Happy Harbor

**S T A R C I T Y  
July 17, 23:16 PDT**

Of _course_ , it would be Brick doing an illegal weapons trafficking deal on the Star City docks. The criminal had it out for Reese ever since she had stolen his wallet, _three years ago_. Not that he knew about her moonlighting as a vigilante, but still...

Now, here she stood, as Silverbird, with Speedy, as Roy shot an arrow towards two of Brick's thugs, causing smoke to puff out of it.

The weapons scattered around the docks, one sliding far enough that Brick himself was able to pick it up. The arms trafficker powered up the weapon, aiming it around before he finally pointed it up at a crane sorta-thing, where Silverbird and Speedy were standing, glaring at him.

"You two again?" he shouted. "I'm starting to get insulted that Green Arrow's not messing up my operation personally!"

Then, Brick shot his blaster, but Roy and Reese were able to duck out of the way, leaping across the beams as red bolts of energy flew towards them.

Finally, Speedy managed to run across a walkway, flipping to avoid a blast, shooting an arrow at the same time. The arrow landed in the barrel of Brick's blaster and made it explode, destroying the other man's suit in the process.

"Do you know what I pay for a suit in my size?" he shouted up at them, before turning to his henchmen. "Scorch the earth, boys,"

"Uh oh," Silverbird muttered as the henchmen swiveled their guns around to face her and Speedy, but before they could get hit, a streak of yellow and red knocked two of the men down, while another pair of batarangs took care of the last two, Robin swinging across on his grappling line, cackling that laugh of his.

As Robin landed on a shipping container, Aqualad jumped down, turning his water-bearers into a rope and slamming them against two other thugs.

After taking off the remnants of his ruined suit, Brick bent down, ripping a chunk of cement from the ground and throwing it towards where Silverbird and Speedy were running across the tops of shipping containers.

The two pseudo-siblings managed to duck, and Silverbird spun around, shooting an arrow towards Brick, though it didn't do much damage. He threw another boulder towards them, but Aqualad jumped down, slicing it in half, just as Speedy shot another smokescreen arrow at Brick, causing the man to cough.

"Roy, please," Silverbird began quietly. "Just listen,"

"The cave is perfect," Aqualad agreed. "It has everything the Team will need," there was a dull thump behind her, and Reese glanced over her shoulder in time to see Robin land behind her and Speedy.

"For covert missions," the Boy Wonder added. "You know, spy stuff,"

"And wait until you see Superboy and Miss Martian!" Kid Flash spoke up as he joined them on top, after running straight up the side of the shipping container. "But, I saw her first!"

Behind Wally, Silverbird saw the smoke cloud that had been surrounding Brick clear, and the man hefted another boulder.

"Everyone, scatter!" she shouted as the rock flew towards them, before she let loose a Canary Cry, making the boulder explode into dust. Speedy jumped to her right, coming up kneeling and shooting three arrows at once towards Brick.

Though they did knock the man back a few feet, Brick wasn't defeated. As the smoke dissipated, Brick chuckled.

"Tell Arrow he shouldn't send his _whelps_ to do a _man's_ job,"

"I'll show you a whelp," Silverbird grumbled, as she and Speedy each nocked separate arrows, pointing them towards Brick, who only chuckled again.

"Go ahead," the man told them, holding his arms out. The two siblings let their arrows fly, and they thudded against Brick's chest, as a double-dosing of gooey foam encased the arms trafficker, silencing his protests as well.

Wally ran up the shipping container again, smirking.

"High-density polyurethane foam," he spoke up, glancing over his shoulder at Reese and Roy. " _Nice_ ,"

"So, Speedy?" Robin asked from where he leaned against a shipping container as the redhead turned around, walking towards him and Aqualad. "You in?"

" _Pass_ ," Speedy bit out, turning to glance at Robin as he cut between the two shipping containers. "I'm done letting Arrow and the League tell me what to do. I don't need a babysitter or a clubhouse to hang out with the other kids," he scoffed harshly. "Your junior Justice League is a joke. Something to keep you busy and _in your place_. I don't want any part of it,"

As he walked away, Roy looked over his shoulder at Reese, who was looking more than despondent at the thought of her older brother refusing to, in a sense, spend time with her.

"I'll see you at home," he said simply, before vanishing into the shadows.

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
July 18, 11:16 EDT**

_**Recognized Robin B-0-1, Silverbird B-0-3, Kid Flash B-0-4** _

The next day, despite the disastrous meeting with Roy the night before, would hopefully be a little bit better.

Reese, Wally, and Dick, all once again dressed in civvies, with the black-haired boy's ever-present shades over his ocean eyes, stepped out of the Zeta tube, the three practically bursting with excitement as they walked to where Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Superboy were standing over by the holo-map.

After finally getting out of her grounding with Ollie, Reese had talked her adoptive father into letting her meet up with her two friends in Gotham, but the three had been too excited to sit still for very long.

"Did you ask him?"

"What did he say?"

The boys being a prime example. Aqualad turned towards the three, giving a small smile.

"He is arriving now,"

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" Wally exclaimed, running forward as the bay doors opened, revealing Red Tornado as he landed on the ground, after flying using well...a tornado.

"Greetings," the android said with a mechanical tone to his voice. "Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?"

"We thought you had a mission for us," Aqualad said calmly, and everyone, including Reese, turned to the android with hopeful looks.

But, no such luck.

"Missions are the Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado said stoically, and Reese crossed her arms as Robin scoffed.

"But it's been over a _week_!" he exclaimed.

"And so far..." Reese trailed off, narrowing her eyes. "There's been a whole lot of _nothing_ ,"

"You will be tested soon enough," Red Tornado retorted calmly, holding up a hand. "For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company,"

"This _team_ ," Aqualad cut in. "Is not a social club,"

"No," the android agreed, pointing a finger. "But I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise. Perhaps you can keep yourselves busy by familiarizing yourselves with the cave,"

Red Tornado walked past them, stopping so the computer was able to scan and recognize him as an authorized member, and not an intruder.

"Keep busy, he said" Reese huffed, crossing her arms again and exchanging a glance with Dick, who nodded.

"Does he think we're falling for this?" he asked, and Miss Martian jumped around excitedly.

"Oh, oh, I'll find out!" she exclaimed, before turning to stare at Red Tornado. When nothing happened for a few moments, Reese poked her head around Dick's shoulder to look at the Martian.

"Was something... _supposed to happen_?" she asked, and Miss Martian sighed.

"I-I'm sorry," the other girl mumbled. "I forgot he's a machine...inorganic. I cannot read his mind,"

"Nice try," Reese spoke, reaching up and setting a hand on the red-haired girl's shoulders before Wally butted in between them.

"So, you know what I'm thinking right now?" the speedster asked Miss Martian, and Reese stuck her tongue out at him as Dick elbowed Wally's ribs.

"Pfft," Robin began, and Reese had a feeling he was rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses. "We _all_ know what you're thinking now,"

"And now we tour the _clubhouse_ ," Aqualad spoke up, interrupting the other two and sounding a bit despondent, but Miss Martian, ever the cheerful one, clapped her hands together.

"Well," she began. "Superboy and I live here! We can play tour guides!"

Everyone turned to the Project Cadmus clone, who just glared at them and crossed his arms over his chest. Reese actually thought it made him look like some sort of grumpy puppy.

"Don't look at me," he grumbled, and Wally sped in between Reese and Miss Martian, laying his arms across both of their shoulders, even though Silverbird was a good seven inches shorter than him.

"We won't," Kid Flash cut in, smirking. "A private tour sounds much more fun,"

"She never said it was going to be private," Dick snapped, practically glaring at the red-haired speedster, as Reese jabbed Wally in the ribs at the same time, making him flinch.

"Get your arm off my shoulder or I'll judo-flip you," she muttered, and the arm was quickly retracted.

Wally had, unfortunately, or not, been on the receiving end of the twelve-year-old brunette's judo-flips before, courtesy of Black Canary's teachings, and he wasn't eager to go through it again.

Well, that, _and_ there was also a black-haired bird glaring daggers into the side of his head, but for now, Wally ignored the latter.

"Team building," Aqualad intervened again before things could escalate further, or before Wally _actually_ got flipped onto his back. "We'll all go,"

With that, the six of them headed back into the cave, but as Miss Martian began the ' _tour_ ', Reese would be lying if she said she didn't zone out the tiniest bit.

It wasn't that she didn't _want_ to pay attention, it was just that, after the Team's disastrous intervention with Speedy last night, she hadn't gotten much sleep. Reese had been too preoccupied with wondering what exactly made Speedy go off on his own, without telling anyone, without telling _her_ , than to actually get any semblance of rest.

A finger gently poking her ribcage drew the brunette from her thoughts, and she turned to see Dick staring at her. Though Reese wasn't able to see his blue eyes from behind his sunglasses, she assumed the Boy Wonder was worried, if the slight downturn to his mouth was any indication.

"You okay, pretty bird?" he whispered, and Reese sighed, brushing a strand of hair from where it hung in front of her eyes.

"I'm fine," she answered. Reese had been saying that a lot lately, and she wondered if it was true or not. "Just tired. Didn't get much sleep last night,"

"Worried about Roy?" Dick asked quietly, eyes flicking forward to see if anyone else had heard.

Neither of them were sure if their mentors had told Superboy or Miss Martian the identity of Speedy, but considering that Ollie hadn't told Reese she needed to wear sunglasses inside as Bruce had done to Dick, it was safe to bet they were probably free to talk about her brother without risk.

In response to Dick's question, Reese nodded. "It's just..." she trailed off, before waving her hands around. "I don't get it! I've known Roy for _years_ , just as long as you have! I _know_ he can be bull-headed about things, but this is different! _He_ seems different,"

For a few seconds, it looked like Dick wasn't sure what to say. Finally, he sighed, laying an arm across Reese's shoulders and giving the silver archer a small smile.

"Stay whelmed, Rhysalin," he said, him being the only person to use Reese's full name. Well, Oliver did it whenever she was in trouble, but all in all, she _was_ a good kid... _most_ of the time. "I'm sure Speedy's just going through a phase. I mean, we were _all_ a bit pissed that day at the Hall. Roy's just taking longer than the rest of us to cool down,"

Before Reese could say anything in response, Miss Martian's voice interrupted their conversation, causing the younger two proteges to turn to the others.

"If villains know of the cave we must be on constant alert," the red-haired Martian was saying, but Dick had an explanation ready. However confusing it might be.

"The bad guys know we know that they know about the cave so they'll never think to look here," But, when Miss M just stared at him, confused, Reese figured it'd be up to her to make things understandable.

"He means we're hiding in plain sight," the brunette explained before her nose caught the scent of... _burning_. Burning meant _fire_.

"I smell smoke," Superboy spoke up, and Miss M yelled something about cookies, but all Reese was able to think about was the night her parents died, the explosion at her old home, and--fingers waving in front of her face jerked Reese from her thoughts, and she turned to see Dick staring worriedly at her again.

God, why couldn't she just _get a grip_?

If it wasn't bad enough that she was a superhero scared of heights, the night that her parents and baby sister died had made a whole new fear appear inside Reese's mind: _Pyrophobia_ , the fear of _fire_.

Understandable, given the circumstances, but still. Reese knew she was supposed to be strong, to be able to shut everything else out, to focus _only_ on the mission (per Batman's words), but she just... _couldn't_.

"You alright?" Dick's voice was quiet, and Reese bit her lip, giving a small nod.

She was fine. She _was_. Reese couldn't bring herself to show weakness in front of her friends, in front of Dick. They would think she wasn't worthy of being a hero. They would probably end up kicking her off the Team.

So, as of now, she kept her emotions to herself. Reese bottled them up and stuck them deep inside, ignoring them as they grew, ignoring the way this would probably come back and haunt her later. Right now, it didn't matter.

"I'm fine," It wasn't like she _intentionally_ tried to say that, by now it was just a reflex. A bad one, but a reflex nonetheless. As it were, it didn't look like Dick believed her.

"You're sure?" he asked skeptically, glancing around to make sure they were alone before reaching up and taking off his sunglasses, revealing his blue eyes. "Pretty bird, _please_ , talk to me,"

"I'm _fine_ ," she repeated, stepping away from the Boy Wonder. "Let's go see the others, okay?"

Dick _still_ looked like he didn't believe her, but he relented, eventually, and the two of them managed to catch up to Miss M, Wally, Aqualad, and Superboy just as they entered what looked to be a common room. Dick had put his sunglasses back on, so no one else was able to figure out his identity.

One half held a large flat-screen TV and green couches and armchairs around a glass coffee table. The other half of the room was a kitchen, the oven of which held a large spiraling cloud of black smoke.

Using her telekinesis, Miss Martian levitated a metal tray from the oven, and Reese noticed the surface of which was laden with crumbly black disks. Presumably, Miss M's cookies.

"I was trying out Granny Jones' recipe from episode seventeen of--uh, never mind," Reese raised an eyebrow when the martian abruptly cut off the rest of her explanation, but Wally beginning to scarf down the burnt cookies stopped her from asking about it.

"I bet they would've been great," Dick added, jerking his thumb towards the speedster. "He doesn't seem to mind,"

Wally paused in his eating, looking sheepish. "I...have a serious metabolism?" Reese wasn't sure why KF phrased that as a question, but he did, and it was a bit strange.

"I'll...make more?" Miss M asked, sounding hopeful, and Aqualad gave her a small nod.

"It was sweet of you to make any," the Atlantean said.

"Thanks, Aqualad,"

"We're off-duty," Aqualad added. "Please, call me Kaldur'ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur,"

"I'm Wally," KF said, mouth still full of cookies, before glancing towards where Dick and Reese were sitting. "See, I already trust you with my secret ID, unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here. Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling _almost_ anyone his real name,"

Reese, if she was being completely honest, had kind of zoned out of the conversation. Not because she didn't think to introduce themselves was necessary, but because her head was still filled with her own thoughts from earlier.

Only when Dick nudged her did the brunette glance up, in time to see everyone else staring at her. Abruptly, Reese realized they were probably waiting for her to say something.

"Oh, sorry," she said quickly. "Uh, my name's Reese," Wally, another person who knew her full name, leaned closer, smirking.

" _Really_?" he asked, knowing full well that the brunette wasn't lying but didn't stop, even when Reese narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you _sure_ that's your name?"

Reese sighed. "Yes, Wally, I'm _sure_ that's my name. If the rest of you really want to know, my _full_ name is Rhysalin, but nobody ever calls me that,"

"Except for _Mr_. _Boy Wonder_ , over there," Wally added, jerking his head in Dick's general direction. "You know _his_ real name, he knows _your_ full name. Interesting, isn't it?"

"Shut up, Wally," Reese grumbled, feeling her face heat up and wishing she'd just be able to sink into the floor. "You knew my full name before today too,"

"Well, _yes,_ " KF admitted reluctantly. "But I don't use it on a daily basis. _And_ , not to mention the whole ' _pretty bird'_ nickname thing. What's that about, Rob?"

"--Miss M, what about you?" Dick interrupted, blatantly avoiding Wally's question before the immensely embarrassing conversation could go any further, and the martian gave a small smile.

"Mine's no secret," she began. "It's M'gann M'orzz. But, you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, and I'm on Earth now,"

Superboy didn't say anything, only turning around and beginning to walk out of the common room. Suddenly, he whipped around with a dark look on his face.

"Get out of my _head_!" he exclaimed, and Reese clapped her hands over her ears at the sheer volume of Superboy's angry shout. Then, if that wasn't weird enough, Reese heard M'gann's voice, quite literally, inside her head, bringing with it a painful headache.

' _What's wrong?'_ the martian's voice began. ' _I don't understand. Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically._ '

"M'gann, stop," Kaldur spoke up sharply, and the brief mental pain receded from Reese's mind. Despite herself, the brunette let out a small sigh of relief as Aqualad continued his explanation. "Things are different on Earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy,"

"Besides," Wally added, ever the conversationalist. "Cadmus' creepy little psychic G-gnomes left a bad taste in his brain,"

"I-I didn't mean to--"

"Just _stay out_ ," Superboy growled, before going over to sit sullenly on a nearby couch.

" _Hello_ , Megan," M'gann said suddenly, knocking a palm against the side of her head. "I know what we can do,"

She began to fly down the corridor, as Kaldur and Wally turned to stare at Dick and Reese, confused. But, all the younger two could do was shrug. As the boys, save Superboy, walked down the hallway, Reese and M'gann stayed behind, the martian peeking around the corner to gaze sadly at the sulking Cadmus clone.

"Superboy..." she began quietly. "Please?"

"Don't talk to me," the other boy bit out. Reese rolled her eyes. This was ridiculous. She was used to dealing with moody teenage boys, Roy being a prime example.

So, what she did was walk forward and set her hand on Superboy's shoulder. The clone glanced up at her, anger still lurking in his eyes, which were so much like Clark's, but after a moment, they softened. Superboy stood up and followed Reese and M'gann to the hangar, where Dick, Wally, and Kaldur were waiting, in front of a small oval-shaped... _thing_.

"It's my Martian bioship," M'gann explained, and Reese tilted her head to the side, trying to see how this egg-shaped object would be any sort of ship, space shuttle or no. Would M'gann need to shrink down in order to pilot it? It _was_ fairly small, after all. No way her normal size would be able to get in all on her own.

"Cute," Wally spoke up, raising an eyebrow. "Not aerodynamic, but cute,"

"It's at _rest_ , silly," Miss M giggled. "I'll wake it," Suddenly, the Bioship expanded into something that looked vaguely jet-like, and Reese had to stumble backward in order to not get crushed as it transformed.

The ship turned around so the back-end faced them, before a door opened up, extending a ramp downward. The six of them all ran in excitedly as six organic-looking chairs appeared from the floor, and M'gann stepped up to a central console.

"Strap in for launch," the martian said calmly, and Reese suddenly snapped her head to face Miss M.

"Wait, launch?" she echoed, before pointing a finger up in the air. "As in, like, flying? In the sky?"

"Isn't that what a ship does?" M'gann asked, tilting her head to the side, confused, as Wally suddenly smirked.

"Don't tell me, Reese," the redhead began, leaning up against his chair. "Are you _scared_?"

"So what if I am?" the brunette shot back as Dick elbowed Wally hard in the ribs. "You would be too if there was a chance that, when you're thousands of feet up in the air, that something goes wrong and you fall out of the sky, ending in inevitable _death_ ,"

"Worst-case scenario," Wally waved a hand dismissively, but Reese wasn't entirely okay with it.

Sure, she had flown in a plane before, if only to keep up the pretenses that Oliver Queen _actually_ traveled across the country like a normal person, instead of using the Justice League's Zeta tubes.

That didn't mean she had to _like_ flying. Acrophobia, anyone?

"You don't have to come with us if you want to, Reese," M'gann said, trying to be comforting, but Reese only shook her head. Dick was the only person who knew about her fear, and it was unlikely he'd say anything about it.

"No, it's fine," she answered. "I can come with. Just a little old irrational fear, you know the drill,"

"I...can't say that I do," Miss Martian answered slowly, but her voice quavered the tiniest bit, and Reese raised an eyebrow.

Over the years, as she lived with Oliver and met with Bruce on multiple occasions for one thing or another, she had become perceptive. Reese had somehow acquired an uncanny ability to pick out when people were lying.

And right now, M'gann _wasn't_ telling the truth. But, she didn't say anything about it. Everyone was entitled to their own secrets, and whether or not they chose to keep them was their choice.

"Red Tornado, please open the bay doors," Miss Martian said clearly as soon as Reese had sat down on the chair in front of Dick, a set of safety belts crisscrossing across her chest.

Two glowing blue globes appeared from the floor and M'gann placed her hands on each of them. Per Miss Martian's request, the bay doors opened, and the Bioship flew out in the air.

Despite her saying that she would come along, Reese avoided looking out the windows. There was no way she was going to look down at the ground, hundreds of feet below, and _not_ freak out about it.

Behind her, on the other hand, Dick was having the time of his life.

"Incredible!" he exclaimed, and Wally nodded dreamily from where he was staring at M'gann.

"She sure is," When he realized everyone was looking at him, KF quickly backtracked. "Uh, I mean the ship. Which, like all ships, is a she,"

"Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth," Dick chuckled from his spot, and Reese cracked a small smile, the choked feeling of fear in her chest dissipating the smallest bit.

" _Dude_!" Despite the redhead's embarrassment, Reese giggled, covering her mouth with one hand, before Wally turned to stare at her. "Not you too!" he exclaimed, and the younger brunette shrugged.

"What?" she asked rhetorically. "It was funny,"

"I bet it was," Wally grumbled as he turned back around, muttering under his breath. "Of course, when little _Dickie-bird_ makes you laugh..."

"You know I can _still_ hear you, right?" Reese asked, and smirked as Wally's entire body tensed. When he turned around to stare at her, Reese tapped one nail against her ear. "Enhanced hearing, KF,"

During all of this, Kaldur had drawn his chair closer to Superboy's, and Reese figured this would be an opportune time to help the clone learn how to apologize.

"We might not have psychic powers," the Atlantean began. "But we know what you're thinking. You over-reacted and don't know how to apologize," Superboy, on the other hand, despite Kaldur's words, looked less than convinced, and he turned to look at Reese.

"It's more simple than you think," she said calmly. "First, all you have to do is say sorry,"

Before she stepped away, Reese gave Superboy a small smile.

As she went back to sit in front of Dick, she noticed that the Boy Wonder's face had taken on an unreadable expression, and it made Reese stare at him for a few seconds, before he turned to M'gann.

"He'll come around," Dick said, and Miss Martian sighed.

"He doesn't seem to like me much," she mumbled before Wally spoke up again.

"You guys remember he _also_ has superhearing, right?" the speedster's stage whisper stopped when Reese glared at him before they all turned to Superboy, who was bristling slightly.

To change the subject, Reese turned to M'gann. "How about showing us some Martian shape-shifting?" she asked, and the other girl brightened up instantly.

Miss M straightened up in her spot and a wave of color started from her feet upward, turning into an identical copy of Silverbird herself, from the silver streak in her brown hair to the bow and quiver across her back

"Woah..." the real Reese trailed off as she stared at M'gann, eyes practically bulging out of her head. Then, M'gann turned into a female version of Robin, before a female Kid Flash.

As he saw his female double, Wally sighed dreamily. "Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?" he asked, and for a second, all Reese could do was stare at him.

"Kind of?" she answered, simply because she wasn't entirely sure of the answer herself. "I mean, you _are_ already in love with yourself,"

"Funny," Wally retorted dryly, but Reese only stuck her tongue out at him again.

"Impressive," Dick spoke up, looking at M'gann again as she transformed back into herself. "But, you know, you're not exactly going to fool anyone with those,"

"Mimicking boys is a lot harder," M'gann said softly, and Reese grinned.

"Forget _mimicking_ them, Miss M," she began. "Just _understanding_ boys is an Olympic feat in and of itself," This time, Dick and Wally both sent Reese separate glares, but the brunette ignored them, grinning.

"And your clothes?" Kaldur spoke up.

"They're organic like the ship," M'gann answered. "They respond to my mental commands,"

"As long as they're the only ones," Superboy's angry grumble came from the front of the ship, and Reese sighed. After a moment of potentially awkward silence, Wally spoke up again.

"Can you do that ghosting through walls thing like Manhunter does?" he asked eagerly, but M'gann looked down at her feet.

"Density shifting?" she clarified nervously. "No, it's a very advanced technique,"

"The Flash can vibrate his molecules to phase right through a wall," Reese said, and Dick grinned, pointing a finger at Wally.

"When he tries," the Boy Wonder added. " _Bloody nose_ ,"

"I hate you both," the teen speedster grumbled, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest as Dick and Reese both laughed, the archer's mood much improved from earlier.

"Here's something I can do," Miss Martian spoke up as they flew over the small town of Happy Harbor. "Camouflage mode,"

From inside the Bioship, Reese didn't see any change, but outside she figured they were probably as close to invisible as they could get. But, then, just as she was beginning to have a good time, Wally decided to open his big fat mouth.

"Hey, Reese," he began, and the younger girl turned to him with a small ' _hmm_?'. "You never said why you were scared of the Bioship earlier. You're not scared of flying, are you?"

"No," she answered simply, avoiding the redhead's eyes. Dick, Oliver, Roy, and Dinah were really the only ones who knew about her separate fears of heights _and_ fire. Reese had never told Wally. "I have acrophobia, a fear of heights,"

"Why?"

"That's _none_ of your business, KF," Dick suddenly snapped, and Wally turned to Robin, a bit surprised at the bite that was in the Boy Wonder's tone. But, Reese only shook her head, glancing over her shoulder for a minute, sending Dick a look before she turned back to Kid Flash.

"It's fine, Wally," she said eventually. "It just brings back some bad memories,"

"I'm sorry, Reese," M'gann spoke up next, sounding apologetic. "If I had known that, I never would have made you come with us,"

"No, I wanted to come," Reese answered, waving a hand. "You didn't know about it, _and_ I didn't tell you,"

"Robin knew," Wally spoke up, and Reese shrugged.

"He lives with Batman, they probably know everything," Before Dick could contradict the fact that he had known _before_ Batman, Red Tornado's voice came through whatever speaker system was on the ship.

" _Red Tornado to Miss Martian. An emergency alert was just triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate. Covertly. I'm sending coordinates_ ,"

"Received," Miss M acknowledged the android. "Adjusting course," As the Bioship swerved, Dick grumbled from his spot behind Reese.

"Tornado's keeping us busy again,"

"Well...a simple fire led you to Superboy," M'gann said as the Bioship began to hover over an almost abandoned parking lot. "We should find out what caused the alert,"

"I think I know the reason," Superboy spoke up, and Reese turned to look out the right window of the Bioship, just as an _actual tornado_ slammed into it, throwing them up into the air.

Reese clenched her eyes shut, trying to block out the fact that she was _totally right_ , they were about to die, when suddenly everything settled again, and a hole opened up in the bottom of the Bioship.

The safety straps, which Reese was _immensely_ grateful for, retracted, and she hopped down onto the asphalt of the parking lot. Despite the fact that workers from the power plant were running and screaming, the brunette plopped down onto the street, lightly face-planting as everyone else joined her.

"Reese, are you okay?" M'gann's voice drew Reese from her thoughts, and the brunette gave a weary thumbs-up before she sat up, taking a deep breath.

"I am _never_ flying again," she said, waving a hand. "Like, _never again_ ,"

"Robin, are tornadoes common in New England? Robin?" Kaldur's voice made Reese turn and look at the Atlantean before she noticed that a certain black-haired bird was conveniently missing from their little posse.

Her head snapped to face the entrance to the power plant, in time to see the back of Dick's jacket disappear inside.

"That _idiot_ ," she grumbled, before climbing to her feet and running after him, ignoring the others' calls behind her. Dick just _had_ to go off by himself, didn't he? Reese swore, as soon as she found him--

Reese dove to the side to avoid another twister as it flew towards her, and the wind speed made her hair fly in front of her face. God, she _really_ should've put it up today, instead of letting it hang down her back.

But, it was too late now, and she hadn't brought a hair tie. As it were, Dick looked like he was getting his ass handed to him by some sort of robot dude with a scarf.

Even though she hadn't thought to bring something to pull her hair up, Reese _had_ brought her bow, and her quiver, full of black-and-silver arrows, was already across her back.

Taking her bow, which was collapsible, out of her pocket, Reese nocked an arrow, shooting it straight towards the robot.

But, before it was able to hit him, the robot--and Reese _assumed_ it was a he--waved his hand around, and somehow, the arrow turned around and flew back towards her.

Reese squeaked, ducking her head down, and felt the serrated arrowhead nick the ends of her long hair as she hit the floor. Noticing a ladder close by, she scampered up onto an upper walkway, which would also hopefully give her a better vantage point.

Leaping up onto the guardrail, Reese perched there like a cat, another arrow already pointed straight at the robot. Thank God Dick had taught her how to balance.

Her fingers tightened on the bowstring, before letting the arrow fly, as she leaped off the rail. If Reese had timed this correctly, and she _really_ hoped she timed it right, she would be able to land on the ground level without _too_ much bodily harm.

As it is, she didn't even hit the ground. At least, not right away. Instead, halfway there, Dick was thrown back by another twister, and he thudded right into Reese's stomach.

Twisting around, Robin made sure he took the brunt of the impact as the two of them slammed into a support beam, the back of Reese's head accidentally knocking against his chin before they both fell heavily to the ground.

"You alright?" Dick's voice was quiet, but it made Reese stare at him as if he'd just grown a second head.

"Fine," she said, and this time she meant it. "What about you?"

"Feelin' whelmed," Reese smiled before suddenly, Superboy landed next to them.

"Who's your new friend?" the clone asked.

"Didn't catch his name!" Dick yelled back over the wind. "But he plays kinda rough!"

"Apologies," the robot said smugly. "You may address me as _Mister Twister_ ,"

"Yeah, because _that's_ super original," Reese muttered under her breath and heard Dick chuckle beside her. Kaldur nodded to M'gann and Wally before the three of them ran at Mister Twister. In vain, it seemed, because the robot just swiped them aside with his winds as if they were all meaningless little gnats to him.

"I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero," Mister Twister exclaimed. "I was _not,_ however, expecting children,"

"We're _not_ children," Dick retorted, throwing two red birdarangs at the robot as Reese shot another arrow at him. But, all of the projectiles were swiped away before they could do much damage. Aside from disrupting Mister Twister's twister, nothing much happened.

"Objectively," Mister Twister continued. "You are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence quite disturbing,"

"Let's see if you're more _turbed_ once we kick your can!" Dick shouted, and Reese snapped her head over to look at the boy next to her.

"Seriously?" she asked. "Again? What is it with you and butchering words?"

Dick shrugged, just as M'gann used her telekinesis to levitate a piece of equipment hanging from the ceiling. She threw it towards Mister Twister, and Superboy used the consecutive dust cloud to launch his own attack.

As it were, neither were successful, but it gave Dick, Reese, and Kaldur a prime opportunity to try and defeat the psychotic robot/android.

Reese leaped in front of both Robin and Aqualad, opening her mouth and letting a Canary Cry exit her mouth. The shockwave from the sonic scream made her dark hair fly out in a fan behind her.

But, even though it blasted the android back several meters, as he flew backward, Twister was still able to flash out a hand and wrap it around Reese's neck, abruptly cutting off the Canary Cry and holding her tightly in one of his massive fists.

He threw her back down to the ground, and Reese's head thudded into the cement as Dick and Kaldur were each defeated by more of the wind vortexes, both of the landing next to her.

" _Ow..._ " Reese began wearily as she sat up, holding the back of her head. When she moved her fingers away, they were red and glistening. _Uh oh_.

"Is that _blood_?" Reese glanced up to find Dick staring at her, sunglasses askew. She gave him a dry look in response.

"No, it's ketchup," ...Dick didn't look like he appreciated the sarcasm.

With her free hand, the brunette reached forward and straightened Robin's shades, once again hiding his ocean-colored eyes from her view.

Reese tried to stand, but Dick lurched forward before she was able to get more than a few inches off the ground.

He gently pulled her up so she stood next to him, and then the two of them, plus Kaldur, Superboy, and M'gann, walked towards an exit, where there had just been an explosion.

Once the dust cloud cleared, Reese saw Wally hovering in midair several feet above the ground.

"I got you, Wally," M'gann said as she gently lowered the speedster to the ground. Then, Mister Twister's voice sounded from the far end of the parking lot.

"I would've thought you all would've learned your limitations by now!"

"What do you want?" Kaldur shouted.

"Isn't it obvious?" Twister asked as he rose up into the air. "I'm waiting for a real hero," Then they all began to shout.

"Read his mind and find a weakness!"

"I thought I wasn't supposed to do that?"

"It's _okay_ with the bad guys!" Dick shouted back. M'gann concentrated for a moment, before exclaiming angrily.

"Nothing!" she cried out. "I'm getting nothing!" then, M'gann hit her palm against the side of her head. " _Hello,_ Megan! Mister Twister is Red Tornado in disguise! He's inorganic, an android! How many androids do you know that can generate tornadoes?"

Despite the valid points of M'gann's observation, Reese had a feeling that wasn't _quite_. She had met Red Tornado before, and he wasn't exactly one to dress up in a crazy costume, testing them or not.

But, it seemed the others didn't share her skepticism. Overhead, Twister raised his hands in the air, as two massive tornadoes materialized, a stormcloud making the sky grow dark.

"An impressive show!" Kaldur exclaimed. "We will not indulge you! We will _not_ engage!" Lightning flashed in the dark clouds, and Wally shuddered.

"Uh, can Tornado do that?" he asked, and Twister chuckled.

"You think I'm Tornado?" the other android questioned. "Ironic," Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, and everyone was thrown backward. Wearily, Reese lifted her head, everything wavering in front of her eyes as her head pounded.

_Yep_ , she thought to herself. _That's definitely a concussion._

Taking her bow from her shoulder, Reese shot one arrow on one side of Mister Twister, before shooting another arrow to the opposite side. Lightning began to crackle in Twister's palms after he had thrown Superboy to the ground when suddenly, he just... _stopped_.

"Fine then," Twister began. "I won't deny you children have power, but playing hide-and-seek with you will not help me achieve my objectives, so stay concealed! If you confront me again, I will show _no mercy_ ,"

As soon as he had flown away, Reese stumbled, her head pounding worse than it had been. For a few seconds, her vision blacked out, but after a moment, it cleared, and she was able to see Superboy yelling at M'gann.

"And that's supposed to make it right?" the clone was shouting. "You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado!"

"It's not like she did it on purpose!" Reese cut in, stepping between M'gann and Superboy, facing Dick, Wally, and Kaldur as well. "You can't blame her for something she had no control over. Any of us could've thought Twister was Tornado,"

"It was a rookie mistake," Dick straightened up. "We shouldn't have listened,"

" _Excuse me_?" Reese retorted, oblivious to the fact that M'gann was trying to get her to cool down. "I said it _two seconds ago,_ and I'll say it again, that _wasn't her fault_. Everyone makes mistakes when they first become heroes, it comes with the job. You can't blame Miss M for that,"

"She _is_ pretty inexperienced, though," Wally spoke up, and Reese's eyes snapped to meet his as the speedster shoved his hands into his pockets. "Hit the showers, M'gann. We'll take it from here,"

"Stay out of our way," Superboy added, grumbling. By now, Reese was positively fuming. It didn't help matters when Dick decided to open his mouth as well, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Pretty bird, maybe you should go with her,"

" _What?_ "

"Rhysalin, you're hurt. Stay in the Bioship with Miss M, and you'll be okay,"

"I'm fi--" before she could continue, Dick suddenly pointed a finger in her face.

"Don't you _dare_ say you're fine, Reese," he cut her off. "Your head is bleeding, and you probably have a concussion. You may think you're ' _fine_ ', but anyone with _eyes_ can see that you're not."

Reese clenched her jaw tightly before she spun around without another word, walking towards the Bioship, which M'gann had landed on the grass. The Martian had to quickly open the back door, otherwise, she would've slammed into it.

Back with the others, everyone turned to look at Dick as Robin sighed. In the short time that he had known them, Kaldur had noticed how close Batman and Green Arrow's proteges were, and he figured neither of them were feeling very up to par right now.

Wally, of course, _knew exactly why_ but he also knew that Dick's mood was steadily dropping, so he backed off. No need to aggravate the youngest Bat.

At some point after, M'gann joined Reese in the Bioship, but neither of them talked. Reese was too preoccupied with her own thoughts.

She knew Dick was right. She _hated_ that Dick was right, but she knew all the same. Oliver had talked to her before about the fact that she didn't know how to take care of herself. Well, she _did,_ obviously, but it was more along the lines of when to stop before she _wasn't_ _able to_.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Reese heard M'gann's voice, and then Red Tornado's, but she didn't really register what they were saying. Finally though, Miss Martian spoke up. "Reese?" The brunette glanced over her shoulder with a small ' _hmm?'._ "Do you want to help?"

Along the way towards the harbor, M'gann told Reese her idea, and they thought up a plan. It was fool-proof, and hopefully, by now the boys have cooled down enough to listen.

_'Listen to me, all of you!'_ Miss Martian yelled mentally, and distantly, down on the ground, Reese heard Superboy's audible shout.

"What did we tell you?"

' _I know_ ,' M'gann replied. ' _I know I messed up. But, now we're very clear about what we have to do. Please trust me!'_

_'What do you mean, we?' _Dick's voice came next, and Reese smiled as M'gann explained their plan.

A few minutes later, Red Tornado flew down, and as M'gann conversed with the others, Reese swallowed down her fear, flying the Bioship around in order to bring civilians out of the way of Twister's vortexes.

Finally, once Reese had brought all of the nearby pedestrians out of the line of fire, she landed the Bioship, walking out and joining the others just as M'gann took a massive boulder and slammed it down on the man who had crawled out of the Mister Twister suit.

"Don't know how things are done on Mars!" Dick was yelling as Reese reached them. "But on Earth, we don't _execute_ our captives!" Then, the Boy Wonder snapped his head to look at Reese. "Did _you_ put her up to this?"

" _Me_?" Reese gasped out, placing a hand against her chest in the pure offense. "Why would _I_ tell her to execute someone? Boy Wonder, you know me. Plus, you guys said you'd trust her,"

Then, M'gann used her telekinesis to levitate the rock again, and where the man's battered and bloody body should be was only a mess of tangled and sparking wires.

The man who had been inside Mister Twister hadn't even been human. He had been an android or robot as well.

"That's why I couldn't read his mind," M'gann spoke up, and Reese felt a sudden smug feeling spread through her entire body. Her head was still throbbing from earlier, but that would pass with time.

"Cool," Wally said, stepping up next to the destroyed android and picking up a robotic eye. "Souvenir,"

"So, Robin, Wally, Superboy, Kaldur," Reese began, and the four boys looked over as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Anything you four would like to _say_?"

"We should've had more faith in you," Aqualad said calmly, setting a hand on Miss Martian's shoulder.

"Yeah," Wally agreed excitedly. "You rocked this mission! Get it, _rocked_?"

"Ignore him," Dick sighed. "We're all just turbed you're on the team," Everyone gave a small smile, but Reese also noticed that Superboy still seemed grumpy. As they were walking to the Bioship to head back to Mount Justice, Dick paused before Reese was able to join the others.

"Hey," he said quickly, reaching out and gently grabbing her wrist. "Listen, Rhysalin, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. About you not being fine. I'm not saying you are, but I shouldn't have called you out in front of everyone else. Pretty bird, I worry, you know I do,"

"I know, Boy Wonder," Reese said quietly, giving a small smile. "But--" she glanced around to make sure everyone else was already on the Bioship before she turned back to Robin. "Dick, you don't have to treat me like I'm made of glass. I'm only a year younger than you,"

"That doesn't mean I don't worry, pretty bird," Dick continued. "You're my best friend, Reese, I just don't want anything to happen to you,"

"Boy Wonder, if I didn't want anything to happen, I wouldn't have become Silverbird in the first place. Being in danger comes with the job. It's a part of who we are,"

"But--"

"How about this?" Reese cut Dick off before he could argue again. "We'll make a pact. As long as we know each other, until the day we both die, we will protect each other, watch each other's back. I know that sorta comes with the territory of being on a team, but this is just for us. You and me, until the end,"

"We're the Robin and the Canary,"

"That we are, Boy Wonder," Reese smiled as Dick slipped his hand into hers, both of them beginning the walk up the ramp of the Bioship together. "That we are."

Later, when they finally returned to the cave, the six young heroes had placed the dismantled body of Mister Twister onto a table, and they were looking it over with the _real_ Red Tornado, rather than M'gann's own disguise.

"It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you," Kaldur said stoically, and Tornado nodded.

"Agreed," the android spoke, and M'gann glanced up at him worriedly.

"Is that why you wouldn't help us?" she asked.

"No," Tornado answered. "This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you, nor should you solve mine for me,"

"Red Tornado," Reese cut in worriedly. "If you're in danger--"

"Consider this matter closed," With that, the android went to walk away, and Wally began to mutter from his spot across from Reese.

"Batman, Aquaman, and Flash, they'd have jumped right in to fix things," the speedster mumbled. Dick frowned before he sighed.

"Guess if we're going to have a babysitter, a heartless machine is exactly what we need,"

"Dude!" Wally exclaimed as Reese elbowed her best friend in the ribs. "Harsh,"

"And inaccurate," Red Tornado's voice made them all glance up. "I have a heart. Carbon-steel allow. I also have excellent hearing,"

"Right," Dick said quickly, fumbling over his words. "I'll strive to be...more accurate,"

"And more respectful," Kaldur added, setting a hand on the younger boy's shoulder as Dick let out a shaky laugh.

"Speedy was so wrong," Wally spoke up as they all began to walk down the corridor.

"This team thing--"

"Might just work out," As they left the main room of the cave, Reese glanced over her shoulder in time to see Superboy talking quietly to M'gann, presumably apologizing for earlier.

_Well_ , the brunette thought to herself as she joined Dick again. _That's a start._


	7. 5. Histories

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
** **July 20, 21:35 EDT**

Reese, dressed in civvies, was stuck in a vent. Okay, maybe she should rephrase that. Reese wasn't _stuck_ in a vent, she and Robin were _crawling_ through the vents of Mount Justice, for whatever reason, she had no sane clue.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" she asked Dick, who was crawling in front of her, and the thirteen-year-old glanced at her over his shoulder.

"Because it's _fun_ ," he retorted, and Reese rolled her eyes.

"For you maybe," she shot back. "Mr. Acrobat,"

Though Reese wasn't able to see Dick's face since he was wearing his sunglasses over his blue eyes because the others were in the cave as well, and none of them, save for Wally and Reese herself, obviously, knew who he really was, she knew Dick was smiling.

"Why yes," he spoke up, the smirk evident in his voice. "I _am_ an acrobat, thank you for noticing,"

"You're not exactly subtle about it," Reese muttered under her breath, just as the two of them passed above a slatted vent cover, and a whoosh of yellow and red sped by.

"Was that Wally?" Dick asked, having seen the streak as well. "What do you think he's doing?"

"Probably something to impress M'gann," Reese answered, staring down through the vent cover. "I rescind my earlier statement. _Wally's_ the one who's not subtle, not you,"

"Well, you already knew _that_ pretty bird," Dick chuckled, a split second before there was a creaking sound in the vent shaft the two of them were currently crawling through, and they both froze. "Did you hear that?"

"No, I didn't," Reese answered sarcastically before glaring at the Boy Wonder. " _Yes_ , Dick, of course, I heard it. What do you think it was?"

With absolutely zero hesitation, Dick answered with, "Lizard people," For a moment all Reese could do was blink in shock for a few seconds, before she shook her head, narrowing her eyes.

" _Lizard people_?" she echoed, and though it looked awkward in the middle of a vent, Dick shrugged.

"Sure," he answered. "I mean, why not?"

"You don't seriously think there are _lizard people_ living in the cave's vent system, do you?" Reese asked, and in one smooth move, Dick had flipped himself around... _somehow_ , and the two of them were now facing each other.

"Of course not," he chuckled. "Wow, I can't believe you fell for that,"

"I didn't fall for it," Reese claimed, though she felt her cheeks flush red. Dick, obviously, didn't miss the onset of her blush, because he suddenly reached out and poked her.

"Your face says otherwise," he retorted, smiling softly, and Reese stuck her tongue out at him, but before Dick could say anything else, the vents creaked again, and this time, Reese could've sworn she felt the bottom of the vent drop down a few inches.

"You felt that," she began, looking up towards Dick again. "Right?"

The Boy Wonder, to his credit, now looked a bit freaked out, and he ran his teeth over his bottom lip as he thought things over.

"Yep," he answered simply, and the vents creaked again, before the bottom of the sections where Dick and Reese were crawling suddenly dropped open, making both of them fall the eight feet it was to the floor.

Dick hit the ground first, his sunglasses getting knocked off in the process as his back hit the floor, just before Reese landed on his stomach, making Robin let out a soft ' _oomph'_ sound.

"Sorry," Reese said quietly, moving so she wasn't exactly lying on top of him anymore, bracing her arms on either side of his head.

For a moment, the two just stared at each other. Sure, Reese had seen Dick without his sunglasses before multiple times, most often whenever they were outside the cave and not around the rest of the team, but it was weird, right now, seeing his eyes like this.

"Hi," she said quietly, and Dick blinked.

"Hi," he said back before Dick suddenly grinned. "So, uh, any particular reason you're on top of me right now? I mean, unless you _like_ \--"

He suddenly jerked back as Reese flicked his forehead. "You're a dork," Reese muttered as she got off of him, instead choosing to sit on the ground beside where Dick was still laying on the floor.

Robin, on the other hand, made no move to get up, and instead just turned over on his side to face her, his head held in one of his hands.

Dick opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak, the sound of rustling fabric reached Reese's ears, and she practically flew across the hallway, grabbing Dick's sunglasses and jamming them onto his face just as Miss M appeared at the other end of the corridor.

"Hey, Reese, Robin!" the green girl exclaimed, flying towards the two birds as Dick sat up, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and index finger after the bridge of his sunglasseshad scratched his nose. "What are you two up to?"

"Finding lizard people,"

Ironically, that was the first thing that came out of Reese's mouth, and as such, both Dick and M'gann turned to stare at the brunette, before Robin burst out into laughter, holding his stomach and practically rolling around the floor.

Reese pursed her lips as she glared at Dick before she turned back to M'gann, who only sent her a smile.

"I was wondering if the two of you would like to join me and Wally for some...what did he call them...s' mores?" Dick and Reese exchanged a glance with each other before Reese turned back to M'gann.

" _Wally_ wanted the entire team to do this?" she asked, but M'gann only shrugged.

"Sure," the martian girl answered. "I mean, I'm sure he won't mind. Plus, it'll be a great bonding experience for us as a team!" With that, M'gann flew back the direction she had come, leaving Dick and Reese standing by themselves in the hallway.

"Wally didn't want the entire team, did he?" Reese hissed out of the side of her mouth, and Dick shook his head.

"Nope," he answered simply. "But, let's go anyway. I wanna see Wally get humiliated,"

"You're sadistic," Reese retorted, shaking her head as she began to follow Dick down the hallway, but the Boy Wonder only bowed at the waist, as if he were some sort of medieval gentleman.

"It's part of my charm, pretty bird," he told her, blue eyes shining behind his sunglasses before the two of them entered the kitchen, where Superboy and Kaldur were as well.

Just as they entered the kitchen, so did Wally from the other end, carrying an armful of camping gear, though it obviously wasn't enough for _everybody_. The speedster was also mid-sentence when he ran in.

"...gathered a couple of chairs, some firewood, scrounged the pantry for graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, and now we'll cozy up together outside--" Wally abruptly cut off when he noticed the others standing beside M'gann, and Reese sent the redhead a wave. "--just the _two_ of us?"

"We're going to need a lot more stuff than _that_ if we're gonna go camping," Dick told the speedster, and as Wally glared at his friend, M'gann spoke up.

"I hope you don't mind," she began. "I invited all the others to join in the fun with the s' mores!"

"Perfect," Wally exclaimed, giving a sorta nervous smile, though to Reese it looked more like a pain-filled grimace.

➳➳➳

Within twenty minutes, the six of them had gotten more supplies, headed outside, and set up a small group of tents around an even smaller campfire.

Then, after everything had been set up, they began to roast marshmallows and make the s'mores. Kaldur and M'gann sat further back than everybody else since apparently, their physiology wasn't able to stand high temperatures.

Reese wasn't sitting as far back as they were, but she had pulled her knees up to her chin and was watching the flickering flames warily from where she sat beside Dick at the end of a log, Wally on Robin's other side, while Superboy sat on the opposite side of the firepit by himself.

"This was a great idea, don't you think, Wally?" Dick asked, glancing over his shoulder at the speedster as he rotated a marshmallow skewer. "Camping in the great outdoors!"

"I don't remember inviting _you_ ," Wally retorted as he mouthed through a marshmallow. "Besides, I didn't say anything about _camping_. I said a camp _fire_. Big difference between just a campfire and the whole camping thing. I don't like camping...outside...unless of course, I'm camping with that _special_ someone,"

"Dude," Dick cut in. "Kinda bordering on creepy,"

"Well," M'gann added, sounding even _more_ perky than usual, and for her, that was saying something. "I think all of us camping is a _wonderful_ idea!"

"She doesn't seem to think so," Wally hissed, and Reese and Dick both glanced behind themselves to where M'gann was practically vibrating in her wooden Adirondack chair.

"Wally..." Reese began slowly, talking as if she would to a small child. "There's this thing, it's called a _sugar rush_ , and it makes people a little..." she trailed off but moved her index finger in a small circle beside her temple.

"Yeah," Dick agreed, pulling a perfectly roasted marshmallow off of his skewer and handing it to Reese. "Basically, _you_ on a daily basis,"

"I hate you both," Wally muttered, narrowing his eyes as M'gann spoke up again.

"Thanks to Wally," the martian exclaimed. "I get to try s' mores for the first time!"

Reese didn't know how many of the graham cracker sandwiches she had seen M'gann eat, but the brunette knew it had been at _least_ ten.

"What can I say?" Wally asked, practically preening. "I'm a sweetie. Ha! Get it? 'Cause s' mores are sweet?"

"We got it," Dick muttered as he shifted himself against the log again before Superboy suddenly spoke up.

"So this is what you do when you go camping?" the genomorph asked, waving a hand around at the team's makeshift campsite. "Sleep in these flimsy things called ' _tents_ ' and sit around the fire?"

"Yeah," Wally answered, crossing his arms over his chest and looking a bit peeved. "That's about it, so if you feel like heading home, I can sit out here with Miss M... _alone_ ," Reaching across Dick's lap, Reese swatted at Wally's leg, making the speedster jerk back a few feet to avoid her hand.

"Be nice," she hissed, and Wally glared at her.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing the spot where Reese had hit him, even though it _really_ hadn't been that painful. "Rob, your girlfriend's hitting me!"

"I'm not his girlfriend,"

"She's not my girlfriend,"

The words were spoken in unison by both Reese and Dick, but judging from the judgemental and somewhat smug look on Wally's face, Kid Flash didn't believe either of them. It didn't matter though, because it was true. Reese and Dick weren't dating, no matter what anyone else thought about it.

"But," Dick continued after a moment, waving a hand around. "Reese is right. You, my friend," he pointed a finger at Wally. "Are about as subtle as a train wreck,"

"You're not going to catch any fish unless you go fishing, dude," the redhead told his black-haired friend, before realizing what he had said and glancing over his shoulder at Kaldur, who looked vaguely offended. "Sorry," Wally said quickly. "No offense,"

"Maybe I don't want to go fishing," Dick's words were so quiet, Reese almost wasn't able to catch them, and she was sure Wally hadn't, and when she turned to look at Dick, the Boy Wonder was staring into the campfire again, so focused on the flames that it was almost like he hadn't even spoken. But he had, Reese _knew_ he had, and his words confused her. Before she was able to think too much on it, though, Dick turned back around to look at M'gann.

"No," he said simply, crossing his arms over his chest. "Usually you sit around the campfire and tell stories,"

"Oh!" Miss Martian exclaimed, jubilant once again. "I would _love_ to hear your story, Kaldur. Could you tell us how you became Aqualad?"

"I was thinking more of a ghost story type of thing," Dick explained. "But I guess...whatever,"

"I suppose I could do that," Kaldur began. "If you do not think it will be too boring,"

"Not at all!" M'gann cried out. "I would love to hear it!"

"Well," Aqualad started his story. "I grew up in the city of Shayeris, which is a city in Atlantis. Surface dwellers think all Atlanteans are the same, but our kingdom has many cities, many people, many cultures. When I was twelve, I completed my education and began my mandatory service in the Atlantean military, which is standard for all at that age,"

"I wish I finished school at twelve," Reese muttered, and Dick glanced over at her. At some point, his right arm had fallen across her shoulder, but neither of them had made any action to move away.

"Pretty bird, you're homeschooled,"

"So?" she retorted, and everyone laughed for a moment before Kaldur continued with his story.

"After a while, I was transferred to the prestigious _Conservatory of Sorcery_ in the Atlantean capital of Poseidonis. Queen Mera is the headmistress of the _Conservatory_ and wife of King Orin, Aquaman. It was a very different time for me. It was difficult, as it would be for anyone at age fourteen I suppose, but also a time in my life where I met friends that I know will be with me for a lifetime,"

As Kaldur spoke, Reese noticed that his voice was wistful, and she knew that he was missing his home. But, then his face turned sadder, and the story took a dark and drastic turn.

"Then came a day," Aqualad continued. "A _horrible_ day, when Poseidonis was attacked by the Ocean Master. I can remember it vividly as if it had just happened yesterday. It was the day Aquaman nearly met his end,"

Needless to say, that was _not_ what Reese had been expecting, and her mouth dropped open, so much so that Dick had to manually close it.

"Aquaman and Ocean Master fought for what seemed like hours. When Aquaman and Ocean Master clashed, it seemed to shake the very foundations of the city. Ocean Master had gained the upper hand and nearly defeated Aquaman. Correction," Kaldur added after a moment of thought. "Aquaman _was_ defeated,"

"What happened next?" Reese asked suddenly. At this point, she was getting _really_ into the story, and had turned around so she was fully able to face Aqualad.

"I'm pretty sure he was getting to that," Wally said, but Reese only shrugged.

"You know me, KF," she told the redhead. "I get impatient. Uh, no offense," Reese quickly turned to Kaldur, but the Atlantean only shook his head.

"None taken," he told her with a smile, while from beside Reese, Dick huffed a breath out from between his teeth.

After a moment, Aqualad continued with his story. "Garth, a fellow student, and I intervened on the King's behalf. It was the only thing we could think of doing. The danger did not occur to us, the only thing that mattered to us at that time was that our King was in trouble. It may have been one of the most foolish things Garth and I had ever done, as we nearly met our own end. We had no hope of defeating him whatsoever, but the time we spent engaged in a battle against the Ocean Master was time enough for our King to recover. That was all he needed as Aquaman finally _triumphed_ over Ocean Master! He was able to drive him away from the city and save us all!"

For a moment, Reese almost thought the story was finished, but then Kaldur began to speak again. "Aquaman is a being of two worlds. On the surface world, he fights for justice for all beings. Under the sea, he is a leader to many. Both carry the weight of responsibilities. Overwhelming responsibilities only the best of men can carry for so long. Even Aquaman cannot do both forever. Realizing that on the surface world, Batman, Green Arrow, and even Black Canary had taken on _apprentices_ that could one day take over their respective mantles, King Orin had been contemplating the same idea,"

For a moment, Kaldur's words made Reese pause. That's what Dinah was doing with her, wasn't it? Helping her, _grooming_ her, so to speak, so that one day Reese might one day become the new Black Canary?

Man, that was weird to think about.

Aqualad's voice made Reese look up again, and the brunette began to listen, once more to the Atlantean's historical account.

"With this in mind," Kaldur began. "He approached both Garth and me with the possibility of becoming his proteges. I had never been to the surface world, and I am the first to admit that I am a bit of an adventurer. Many are the days in class that I would dream of visiting distant oceans and possibly one day even the surface world. Both Garth and I _seriously_ considered the King's offer. Garth ultimately chose to continue his studies with Queen Mera at the _Conservatory of Sorcery_. For me, however, the chance to visit the surface world was a dream come true. So, at the age of fourteen, I became Aqualad. I miss my friends. Garth. Tula...but the chance to work with my mentor and King was an opportunity I could not pass up. I like to think that the work I am doing makes a difference. The rest of the story you know. Aquaman brought Aqualad to the surface world...and now I am here with you,"

"Wow," M'gann looked fairly awed. "So you _wanted_ to be Aqualad?"

"Yes," Kaldur answered simply. "The opportunity arose. I could think of no other path,"

"Yeah?" Wally asked, pointing a thumb at himself. "If you think _he_ wanted to be Aqualad so badly, let me tell about how _I_ got started,"

"Oh, not this again," Reese groaned, turning around again to face the campfire as she ran her hands over her face. Really, Wally told her and Dick this story every chance he got, sometimes even multiple times a day.

"Yes, _this_ again," Wally said, glaring at the brunette. Reese groaned, leaning back again against the log beside Dick, who snickered under his breath, though Wally heard the Boy Wonder anyway. "What's so funny?" Wally asked, and Dick quickly raised his hands in surrender.

"Nothing," he answered simply, his face bearing the perfect expression of innocence. "Nothing at all,"

Wally still looked skeptical and kept one eye on Dick and Reese warily before he turned back to the rest of the Team.

"It literally goes back a couple of generations..." Wally began. "Each generation of _Flash_ started with a bang! Literally! Jay Garrick was in a freak lab accident. Boom! There it is! During the 40s and 50s, he was everywhere! The fastest man alive! Jay Garrick was the world's first _Flash_! Then one day, this guy comes along a huge fan of the Flash, wanting to know all about this Jay Garrick. Back in those days, Jay didn't really hide his identity. He contacts Jay and the two spend hours and hours talking about his adventures and about the accident that turned him into the Flash. This guy even goes so far as to _recreate_ the accident that created the original. But, where Jay Garrick's accident was a total freak thing, this guy recreated the accident under laboratory conditions. He set the whole thing up in a lab and _tried_ to make it happen! Result? _Still_ a big explosion! But, lo and behold he becomes Speedy McSpeed-Speed himself!"

At this point in the story, Reese zoned out, because of two main factors. One, she had heard this story before, _multiple_ times. In short, after Barry Allen recreated Jay Garrick's accident, he did gain the power of superspeed, only this time _he_ was the faster Flash, and as such, became the second Flash, and the current one.

After Wally discovered that his uncle was a superhero, the young teen tried to convince Barry to take him on as a partner, though Barry obviously wasn't having it.

So, what did Wally do when he didn't get his way? Recreated the accident for the _third_ time, ended up putting himself in the hospital, and gave himself super speed a few weeks after getting discharged.

And the second reason she zoned out? Reese simply...fell asleep. It wasn't like she was bored, but she _had_ heard this story before, and it was getting pretty late, so she leaned her head on Dick's shoulder, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

"The Flash was beyondecstatic!" Wally was exclaiming. "He couldn't contain his excitement! It was the greatest day in the history of the world! Why you ask?"

"Just for the record," Dick cut, glancing over his shoulder at Wally. "We didn't," As he moved, Dick was careful not to jostle Reese too much, because the brunette got cranky when she didn't get enough shut-eye.

Wally, meanwhile, ignored him. "That's the day the world got _Kid Flash!"_ When he was done with his story, Wally crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. "You. Are. Welcome,"

"Yeah, we're all thrilled you're so speed-capable," Dick said sarcastically, and Wally sent him a look.

"What's the matter?" the redhead asked. " _Jealous_?"

"Pssh," Dick scoffed. "Yeah, right! Jealous of _you_?"

"Can you tell us about how you or Reese became heroes, Robin?" M'gann asked calmly, and Dick's good mood abruptly died, just as Wally snorted.

"Are you kidding me?" the speedster asked, before holding his fingers up on either side of his head like they were the points on Batman's cowl. " _Bats_ won't even let him tell you his real name!"

Then, before Wally could go on another one of his long-winded rants, Dick sighed heavily, staring into the still-lit campfire for a moment before he glanced over his shoulder at M'gann again.

"Reese doesn't like to talk about how she got started," he began softly. "Frankly, she and I have that in common. Reese wasn't born with her powers either. They manifested about four years ago in Star City after--," Dick cut himself before he revealed everything.

He and Reese didn't need their _whole_ backstories floating around the cave either. _Wally_ didn't even know most of how Green Arrow had come to mentor his female protege, or how Oliver Queen found his adoptive daughter.

"What happened?" M'gann's voice was quiet, but Dick avoided the martian's gaze.

"It doesn't matter," he answered simply. "If Reese wants to tell you about, then she can. I'm not going to,"

With that rather icy answer, Dick closed himself off, settling back against the log he and a still-sleeping Reese were leaning against, and he himself zoned out of the conversation.

At least, that _was_ what Dick was doing until Wally practically tackled both him and Reese, making Reese's eyes fly open as words began to rush out of Wally's mouth at superspeed.

"Reese!" Wally was exclaiming as the brunette sat up, rubbing her head. "Robin! Did you hear what he said! Did you _hear_ what Superboy said?"

"What?" both birds glanced up, as Wally gestured wildly towards the other side of the campfire, where Superboy was standing, facing away from the others.

"He just said he wants to take down _Superman_!" Wally exclaimed, and Reese's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" M'gann asked, looking towards where Superboy was standing. "Superboy?"

"...It's how I feel," the genomorph admitted, sounding sad. "...Sometimes. What if that's why I was created?" Superboy added, glancing over his shoulder at the rest of the team. "What if that's the _only_ reason I was created?"

"That's not possible!" M'gann was quick to disagree, and Wally and Kaldur quickly agreed with her.

"Yeah!" Wally exclaimed. "Look at all the _good_ stuff you've done so far,"

"What would be the possible reasoning behind this thinking?" Kaldur asked, and Superboy shrugged.

"I just feel..." he trailed off for a moment before continuing. "I don't know what I feel. Sometimes... _thoughts_ happen,"

"Those would be silly thoughts!" M'gann told the genomorph, adamant that Superboy listens to her. "You should put them out of your head,"

From beside Reese, Dick spoke up. "He does have a valid point," the Boy Wonder explained. "We really don't know _anything_ about what they did to him,"

Reese sent Dick a look, but he only reciprocated the same expression. "What?" he asked. "I'm just being honest,"

"We _know_ he's one of the good guys," Wally added, holding a s'more in one hand. "And we know he's a part of this team!"

"In my world," Kaldur spoke up. " _Actions_ speak louder than words. Superboy has proven his intentions with actions,"

"Yeah!" Wally exclaimed, before holding the s' more out towards Superboy. "You put those thoughts outta your head, Supey. Here, have another s'more!"

"Thanks," Superboy said quietly. "...Everyone,"

" _Hey_ ," Wally said quietly, turning around again as he walked back towards Dick and Reese, looking at the Boy Wonder with a concerned look on his face. "What's with you? Not like you to zone out like that,"

"I guess Superboy isn't the only one lost in thought tonight," Dick answered, and as Wally sat down again, Reese turned to look at the black-haired boy next to her.

"You were thinking about them again," she said quietly. "Weren't you?"

"Yeah," Dick answered quietly, avoiding Reese's gaze as he stared into the campfire. Reese had noticed he'd been doing that a lot since the six of them had come outside. "It's just...I miss them,"

"Ar fi mândri de tine," Reese said quietly, reaching over and setting her hand on Dick's. In Romanian, what she had said roughly translated to _Your parents would be proud of you_.

After a moment, Dick sighed. "Stiu," he answered. _I know_. "Asta nu o face mai bună," _That doesn't make it any better._

Reese sighed again, sitting back against the log, but when she went to move her hand away from Dick's, the Boy Wonder just held on, keeping their fingers interlocked as if they were pieces of a puzzle.

After a few more minutes of silence, Wally glanced over his shoulder at M'gann. "Hey!" the speedster began. "You haven't told us about your story. What's the dealio with you, M'gann?"

"Oh...okay," Miss M began, and Reese and Dick both turned around so they'd be able to both see and listen to M'gann better. "Since all of you told your stories...I guess...well, I'm from Mars," Reese quirked an eyebrow, and M'gann knocked her palm against her forehead. "Ugh! Hello, Megan!" she exclaimed. "...You guys already know that!"

With that, M'gann began to tell her story, and Reese did her best to pay attention, but it was a bit difficult as it became obvious that Dick _wasn't_ paying attention.

"All Martians," M'gann began. "Live in underground tunnels because the surface is uninhabitable. Our family lives are very intertwined. As you already know, we mostly communicate telepathically. The form of communication we use helps large martian families maintain a sense of community and stay closer,"

"Large?" Wally echoed, tilting his head to the side. "How many are in your family?"

"Martian families are usually quite large," M'gann explained. "I have twelve sisters and seventeen brothers! In my extended family, I have over three hundred cousins,"

" _Three hundred_?" Wally repeated again, leaning forward so he and M'gann were practically nose-to-nose.

"Yes," M'gann answered simply, and Wally smirked.

"Are they all _hot_ girls like you?" the redhead asked, and Dick snickered.

"Wow," the thirteen-year-old said simply. "You are a class act,"

"Boy Wonder, don't encourage him," Reese muttered, closing her eyes as she leaned back against the log, oblivious to the glare Wally sent her way before he turned back to Dick.

"Dude!" he exclaimed. " _Three hundred girls_ that look like her? That's a planet I want to visit!"

"Well," M'gann began. "Half of my cousins are males, but, yes, most Martians look very similar...mostly green like myself and Uncle J'onn. But, there are others with... _differences_ ,"

At Miss M's wording, Reese opened her eyes, tilting her head up to send her telepathic friend a look.

"Differences?" she echoed, exchanging a glance with Dick. "What kind of... _differences_?"

Before she answered, M'gann sighed. "Among the green, there are also Martians that are _red_ and _white_. Some on my planet do not see the whites as equals. My parents were both green," M'gann added. "And I was raised in what you would call a ' _liberal'_ type of environment. My family... _I..._ " the girl added after a moment. "Had no issue with white Martians. Others were not as tolerant, and the treatment of the white Martians was especially horrible,"

"How did you happen to come to Earth?" Kaldur asked suddenly, and Reese presumed it was a way to lighten the mood after M'gann's recount of how the white Martians had been treated. Were _still_ being treated.

At this, M'gann smiled, obviously in a better mood than just mere seconds earlier. "Of all the brothers, sisters, parents, aunts, and uncles, the family members I was closest to was Uncle J'onn. We had a great relationship! We would watch his exploits on Earth with the rest of the Justice League. He grew to be a true beacon of hope and stood for what our society could achieve. He became the most famous Martian in our history! Upon his return to Mars, it was declared a day of planetwide celebration,"

"Sounds nice," Reese spoke up, and M'gann grew a wistful expression on her face.

"Yeah," the Martian girl answered. "It was. When my uncle came back, it was not just for the adulation of our population. He also had a specific purpose in mind. Having learned about all of you--Robin, Silverbird, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Speedy--J'onn decided now was the time to introduce a younger Martian hero to Earth. J'onn J'onzz came to Mars and declared he would hold a competition to find the next Martian champion that would be returning with him to fly among the heroes of Earth. I decided _I_ would enter the contest, as did what seemed like half the Martian population. I, however, was coming to Earth,"

Somewhat, Reese found M'gann's voice to be soothing, and the brunette leaned back against Dick again, closing her eyes as she began to fall asleep once more.

"The competition was fierce..." M'gann continued as Wally sent Dick a smirk, noticing the position the Boy Wonder and Silverbird were in, and in return, Dick glared at him. "...And dangerous. It was exciting and consumed or touched the lives of every single Martian on the planet. At first, Uncle J'onn seemed as if he didn't want me to compete. I thought maybe it was that he did not want me to come to Earth. I had seen some of his adventures, and they were life-threatening and dangerous. But, I was not going to let that stop me. I was determined to win! From everything I had seen and heard of Earth up until that point, I found that I... _loved_ it. I wanted to come and see it for myself. I would _not_ be bested! I _won_! The whole competition!"

M'gann suddenly leaped from her chair, throwing her arms up in the air. "My heart _soared_!" she exclaimed. "I was coming to _Earth!_ This was the most exciting time of my life! Now I am here with _all_ of you, and I am part of the _Team_! I truly love it!"

"We are happy you're here as well, M'gann," Kaldur told the Martian, and Wally grinned.

"You could say that again," the speedster chuckled, and Dick tilted his head back in order to look at the others.

"Well," the Boy Wonder began. "I don't know about you guys, but I think I ate one s' more _too_ many. I'm going to hit the old sleeping bag. Miss M, mind giving me a hand with our sleepy archer?"

When Reese fell asleep, she conked out _hard_. Really, Dick had been surprised to find what the brunette was able to sleep through. Like being levitated two feet above the ground by a Martian for example.

"This has been such a wonderful evening," M'gann exclaimed quietly, careful _not_ to wake Reese up. "But, I am _excited_ to sleep in a tent,"

"I'm _right_ behind you," Wally spoke up, but Dick only grabbed the speedster's arm and began to drag his friend in the opposite direction.

"Yeah," he said simply. "But, you're sleeping in _this_ tent right over here,"

"Hey," Wally added. "Next time, you think we should go camping for real, like, at a _real_ camping place instead of just in our own backyard?"

"You don't strike me as the Outdoorsy type," Dick retorted, shrugging. Reese was the exact same way. "Tonight we're sleeping about five feet from the cave entrance, maybe next time we can try down the hill a bit,"

"I mean, it's not like it matters that much," Wally continued. "You and Reese still looked pretty cozy-- _Ow!"_ the redhead hopped around, holding his toes, as Dick sent him a look that was the perfect picture of innocence.

"Oh, was that your foot?" he asked, sounding absolutely non-apologetic. "Sorry,"

Wally huffed but followed his friend inside their tent anyway. No matter their struggles, the six of them really _were_ a team.


	8. 6. Drop-Zone

**C A R R I B E A N S E A  
July 22, 20:08 ECT**

To say that the atmosphere inside the Bioship was _tense_ would be a gross understatement. Here they were, all too preoccupied with their own thoughts to say much of anything, on their first _official_ mission from Batman.

"We're approaching Santa Prisca," Miss Martian spoke up suddenly, and Silverbird, from her spot in between Robin and Kid Flash, glanced over her shoulder at M'gann.

Despite herself, Reese thought back to a few hours earlier, when Batman had briefed them all, back in Mount Justice.

**\---**

_"Isla Santa Prisca," Batman began, standing in front of the holo-screens in the cave. "This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid, a strength-enhancing drug, sold under the street name Venom,"_

_Reese tapped her foot against the ground, already getting antsy. Their first real mission, she couldn't wait._

_"Infrared heat signatures--" Batman continued as he pulled up more holo-screens. "--indicates their factory is still operating at full capacity. But, all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off,"_

_Beside Reese, Wally, ever the speedster, was eating a bag of potato chips, and the munching was getting on Reese's nerves. Whenever her adrenaline got too high, her enhanced senses spiked, and right now, all she could hear were Wally's chips being chewed into little tiny pieces inside his mouth._

_"--That's where this team comes in," Reese turned back to Batman as the Dark Knight turned to face the six of them. "This is a covert recon mission only. Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will. The plan requires two drop-zones,"_

_"So, who's in charge?" Dick asked from Reese's other side, tilting his head to the side._

_Batman and Red Tornado exchanged a look, before turning back to the younger heroes in front of them._

_"Work that out between you,"_

**\---**

Silverbird knew that Robin thought he could be the leader. And in any other situation, she'd agree. Dick _was_ born with natural leadership skills, they just...weren't right for the scenario.

Even at times when Green Arrow or Black Canary had to partner up with Batman and Robin for one thing or another, and she had come along, Reese noticed that Bruce and Dick worked like a well-oiled machine.

They knew how the other thinks, and that made the verbal making of a plan null and void. But, their team _wasn't_ Batman and Robin. No doubt Bruce had done background checks on everyone, studying their fighting styles, or lack thereof, but they didn't know how to work together _like_ a well-oiled machine, or at least, not like Batman and Robin. Not yet, anyway.

Someday, Dick _would_ probably end up leading them, but not today, not right now.

Reese herself knew that she wasn't ready to be a leader, she might _never_ be ready to be a leader. She worked with Ollie and Dinah sure, but Silverbird always followed _their_ lead. Most of the time, Reese was too scared she was going to mess something up if she were ever put in charge.

M'gann wasn't experienced enough to be leader, she was still trying to figure out Earthian customs, Superboy was too impulsive and angry, and having _Wally_ put in charge? Forget it.

That left Aqualad. Kaldur was strong, smart, and mature, far wiser than his age. He _would_ be a good leader.

"Drop-Zone A in thirty," M'gann's voice jerked Reese from her thoughts, and the brunette glanced over her shoulder as Aqualad stood up from his seat.

Kaldur tapped his A-shaped belt buckle, and his red stealth suit turned entirely black and gray.

"Ready," he answered stoically, glancing at Miss Martian.

"Putting Bioship in camouflage mode,"

M'gann flew the Bioship closer to the surface of the sea, and a hole opened up in the bottom before Aqualad dropped smoothly into the water, beginning the swim towards shore.

A few minutes later, Kaldur's voice came through their comms.

" _Heat and motion sensors are patched,_ " he told them. " _Data's now on a continuous loop. Move-in,_ "

Now that they weren't in danger of being shot down by missiles or whatever other fun and dangerous toys Santa Prisca used as their security system, M'gann flew the Bioship above the thick jungle, before stopping again above a clearing.

"Drop-Zone B," Miss Martian said, and Silverbird, Robin, Kid Flash, and Superboy, along with M'gann, all stood to their feet, the chairs melting back into the floor.

Miss M held a hand in the air, concentrating before three rappelling lines descended from the ceiling, coming to a stop in front of Silverbird, Robin, and Kid Flash.

As he hooked the clasp onto his belt, Wally tapped the lightning bolt symbol on his chest, and his mustard-yellow suit suddenly turned the same dark color as Kaldur's, making it easier for KF to blend in during the night.

"How cool is this?" he asked, turning around and gesturing to M'gann.

"Very impressive," the martian answered before she silently willed her own clothes to change into an all-black bodysuit as her cape also grew a hood.

"That works too," Wally added, shrugging before he turned to Superboy. "Hey, Supey, not too late to put on the new _stealth tech_ ,"

"No capes, no tights, no offense,"

"It totally works for you," M'gann answered dreamily, before quickly backtracking. "In that, you can totally do good work in those clothes,"

Meanwhile, not really paying attention to Miss M's embarrassment, Reese sighed heavily as she hooked her own line on. It wasn't like they were _really_ high up, but still...

"You okay?" Reese glanced up to find Robin gazing at her worriedly. After a moment of thought, Silverbird nodded.

"I will be,"

With that, the two of them, plus Kid Flash and Miss Martian, jumped _safely_ to the ground. They had only been standing there for a few seconds though when the wind whistled above her head, and Reese glanced up in time to see Superboy jumping down towards them.

All four of them scattered, just before the Cadmus clone landed heavily on the jungle-floor, bringing with him a shockwave and a cloud of dirt. As she sat up, with Robin's help, Silverbird glared at where Superboy was standing in the middle of a small crater, looking smug.

"Knew I didn't need a line," he said simply.

"And yet," Robin retorted, looking a bit peeved. "Creating a _seismic event_ may not have helped us much with the _covert_ ,"

"Aqualad," Reese reached up to her ear and tapped her comm. "Drop-Zone B is ready,"

" _Head for the factory_ ," Kaldur answered. " _I'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP,_ "

"Roger that," Robin cut off as the five of them looked at the holo-map Dick had pulled up of Santa Prisca.

They began their trek through the jungle, even going past a waterfall that Reese thought was pretty cool. Someday, she wanted to come back, maybe for a vacation. You know, when it _wasn't_ being controlled by crazy drug dealers or whatnot.

As they were walking along a faint path, the sound of a branch snapping reached Silverbird's ears, and she stopped, at the same time as Superboy. When it sounded again, even when they had stopped walking, the two exchanged a glance.

"Did you hear that?" Superboy asked, and KF turned around, giving both of them a dry look.

"Uh, _no_ ," he began but stopped when Reese held up a single gloved hand, stopping his rant. "Wait, is this a super-hearing thing?"

"You _do_ have great ears, Superboy," M'gann said dreamily, causing Reese to glance at her for a second, eyebrow raised.

"Okay, Boy Wonder," Silverbird began, turning towards where Robin was standing. "What should we--Robin?" Where Dick had been standing mere seconds before, there was nothing but an empty patch of dirt, and no Boy Wonder to be seen.

"Aw, man," Wally groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. "I hate it when he does that,"

Reese, meanwhile, was more than a little pissed. They had made a pact, hadn't they? To watch each other's backs, and then Dick goes off and does his own stupid little Robin thing. Oh, when she found him again, Reese swore she was going to--

" _Superboy, Kid_ ," Aqualad's voice suddenly cut into her thoughts, and Reese's eyes widened. " _Switch to infrared, see if you're being tracked_ ,"

As enhanced as Silverbird's vision was, night vision and all that, even _she_ didn't have the ability to see people's heat signatures. Wally had his goggles, and Superboy had the Kryptonian abilities like Clark.

Per Aqualad's orders, Kid Flash slipped his goggles over his eyes, thin red stripes appearing within the lenses.

"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming," Wally spoke up after a few seconds, and when Reese looked where he was, her eyes saw the squad Wally meant, a large group of men with large weapons.

"Two squads," Superboy added, looking to the other side of the jungle. "But, they'll meet each other before they find us," Suddenly, the loud rhythmic sound of gunshots reached everyone's ears, and Wally slid off his goggles.

"No super-hearing required now," the speedster said, and Reese felt stone-cold fear pool in the pit of her stomach.

If Robin was somehow caught unawares out there...sure, he had been trained by the Batman for the past four years, and undoubtedly knew how to take care of himself, but that didn't stop Reese from worrying.

" _Swing wide, steer clear,_ " Aqualad spoke up again.

"Yeah, yeah," KF brushed Kaldur off as he grabbed Silverbird's arm and began to drag her behind him. "Just as soon as Silverbird and I find Rob,"

Without another word, Wally had already slung Reese over his back piggy-back style, and the twelve-year-old locked her arms around the redhead's neck as he began to run through the jungle.

But, before they were able to get very far, Reese glanced down at the ground in time to see Wally's feet slip in the mud, sending both of them tumbling.

Eventually, they stopped, and Silverbird and Kid Flash both sat up wearily, in time to see a tall man in a muscle tank and Lucha libre mask standing in front of them, gun pointed straight at their faces. _Crap_ , Reese thought. _Bane._

"So much for the stealthy," Wally spoke up, at the same time that Reese's eyes widened.

A split-second before both squads of thugs began shooting at them, KF had grabbed Silverbird and ran with her again, and they somehow managed to avoid getting shot.

While Superboy went up against Bane, Wally and Reese still tried to dodge the thugs' bullets. Reese felt one whizz right past her ear, so close she felt it part her hair before a glaringly familiar thirteen-year-old dropped down from the treetops.

"What is _wrong_ with you guys?" Robin exclaimed as soon as he had taken down the two thugs who were shooting at Wally and Reese. "Remember ' _covert_ '? Why didn't you follow my lead: vanish into the jungle?"

" _That's_ what you were doing?" Wally asked as he kicked a bad guy across the clearing. "Way to fill us in. We're not _mind-readers,_ you know?" Just as he said that though, Miss Martian used her telekinesis to throw two more goons into a tree, and Wally glanced sheepishly at her. "Err, I'm not, anyway,"

"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds," M'gann retorted.

Through all of this, Reese hadn't yet said anything, resigning instead to stand stoically in front of Dick, glaring at him. How _dare_ he scare her like that? For several seconds, when the gunfire had first started earlier, she thought her Boy Wonder had been hurt, or worse.

Suddenly, her eyes flicked up the slope behind Robin, and she quickly shot an arrow towards another thug. Robin, for some reason, thought she was shooting it at him and ducked down.

Kaldur dropped down from the trees then as well, placing his hand against the chest of the goon and shocking them, his eel tattoos lighting up for a split-second just as Silverbird's arrow split into a bola, wrapping around the thug and trapping him against a tree trunk.

Then, as M'gann and Wally began to help Superboy and Kaldur tie up the defeated thugs, plus Bane, Reese walked forward until she was almost nose-to-nose with Robin. Then, she leaned closer, making sure that Dick met her eyes. As it were, the Boy Wonder looked as though he wanted the jungle to swallow him up.

"You are _immensely lucky_ that Miss M, Aqualad, and Superboy don't know your identity, Robin, or else I would be breaking out your _full name_ right now because _you_ _are_ _a_ _dick_ ," Reese emphasized the last four words by poking Robin's emblem where it was situated against his chest.

"Pretty bird, I'm sor--" Reese cut him off by holding up a single hand.

"Don't," she said simply. Then she spun around, intentionally letting her braid whip Dick in the face. Reese was mad, he could tell, and frankly, Dick didn't blame her. He _was_ an idiot. But did she _really_ have to break out the name-calling?

"I recognize these uniforms," he spoke up instead, walking forward next to some of the thugs they had tied to a tree. "They belong to the Cult of the Kobra,"

"I am certain Batman would've mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation," Aqualad said stoically, arms crossed.

"Agreed," Robin answered, cupping his chin. "And since there's _clearly_ no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I'm betting Kobra came in and tossed them out. _That's_ why normal supply lines have been cut off,"

"We get it," KF spoke up dryly. "Kobra wanted _super-cultists_ , mystery solved. Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for--"

"Uh, KF?" Reese asked, quietly, causing the speedster to glance over at her. "I don't think these guys are _on_ Venom,"

"She's right," Robin added. "Kobra's _hoarding_ the stuff. Nice one, pretty bird,"

Instead of smiling softly and turning a faint rosy pink like she usually did whenever he complimented her, Reese's face turned almost stone-cold, and she faced away from him, pointedly ignoring Dick's eyes.

"We _don't_ leave," Robin continued after a moment, sighing heavily and wishing the brunette would just _talk to him._ "Not until I know why,"

"Until _you_ know why?" Kid clarified, and Robin straightened up.

"This team needs a leader," Dick retorted, but Wally wasn't swayed.

"And it's _you_?" the speedster asked. "Dude, you're a thirteen-year-old kid, who ducked out on us without a word. Heck, Silver and I almost got wasted because we were looking for _you_ ,"

"Hey, don't bring me into this," Silverbird bit out sharply, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm on your side, KF,"

"Thanks for the support," Dick grumbled, and Reese snapped her eyes over to meet his.

"You wanna talk about support?" she questioned, walking forward until she was almost nose-to-nose with him again. "Support means watching out for your _team_ , not going off half-cocked in the middle of a Caribbean jungle fighting off cultists without telling anyone _where you're going._ Did you ever even think for a second that we _might_ like to know where you were going, and what you were up to?"

" _You_ should've known," Robin retorted, gesturing to Silverbird, and Reese scoffed.

"How was _I_ supposed to know?" she asked, and Dick shrugged.

"You've worked with me and Batman before," he tried to justify himself. "You know how we work,"

"That doesn't make it any better, Robin!" Reese exclaimed, clenching her fists. "Batman's not even _here_ , so you shouldn't need to work how you would with him because he's thousands of miles away right now,"

"Right now," Dick shot back. "I'm the closest thing we _got_ to Batman!"

Both of them were, by now, oblivious to the fact that even Wally had stopped arguing with the Boy Wonder, and was now standing back with Superboy and Miss M, watching as the two birds fought with each other.

"It doesn't matter if you are or not!" Reese shouted, trying desperately to keep her volume under control, lest she Canary Cry right in Dick's face. "Batman's not here, he's not _going_ to be here, so you need to suck it up and think about making a _plan_ , rather than going off by yourself without _telling anyone_! Robin, I thought you _died_!"

Before Dick could form a response to that, before _anyone_ could form a response to that, Bane chuckled darkly from his spot tied against a tree.

"Problemas en el paraíso, tortolitos?" Despite it all, Silverbird's temper was still running high, and Bane's words didn't help things. _Lovebirds_ , she scoffed quietly. _Yeah right_. Sometimes she _really_ hated being able to speak every language on Earth.

Reese whipped around and stalked towards the man, but he spoke again before she was able to argue with him.

"Such a clever niña," he began. "But, you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory, via my secret entrance,"

The strange thing was, Reese could tell that Bane wasn't lying. He _was_ telling the truth about his ' _secret entrance_ ', but...he was also hiding something. And she wasn't entirely sure what that _something_ was.

As it were, M'gann crouched down in front of Bane, looking thoughtful.

"There _is_ a secret entrance," the martian admitted. "But he's also hiding something," She held her fingers to the side of her head, and her eyes began to glow subtly. Bane just chuckled again.

"Ah, ah, ah, _chica_ ," he crooned. " _Bane_ is not that easy,"

"Ugh," M'gann groaned, sitting back. "He's mentally reciting fútbol scores in Español," she glanced over her shoulder. "This could take a while,"

"It is not complicated," Bane said calmly. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Reese didn't appreciate the use of the proverb right now, but it didn't seem like they had many other options.

Eventually, though it seemed everyone was reluctant, the six young heroes allowed Bane to lead them to a cliff, overlooking the jungle. In the center was the massive factory, and with her enhanced vision, Reese was able to catch sight of several of Kobra's cultists patrolling the perimeter.

"Look at all that product," Robin gasped out, binoculars against his eyes. "A buy _is_ going down. But, if Kobra's not selling to the usual suspects--"

"--Then we need to identify that buyer," Aqualad cut in from his spot leaning against a nearby tree, looking down at the factory as well.

"Just what I was thinking" Kid Flash agreed, but Robin scoffed.

"Yeah," he cut in, sarcasm lacing his tone. " _You're_ the thinker," Apparently, Wally caught the underlying tone as well.

"Sarcasm?" the redhead asked. "Dude, a _real_ leader would focus on getting _answers_ ,"

Movement from the corner of her eye made Reese turn her head, and she climbed to her feet as Bane lifted a boulder away from what looked like a mine entrance, revealing a dirt tunnel beyond.

"Answers," the man began, swinging his arm out in a wide gesture. "Are this way,"

Despite her skepticism on letting a _bad guy_ lead the way inside, Reese sucked down her pride, unlike some people (*cough* Dick and Wally *cough*), and was the first of them to follow the man down the tunnel, pointedly ignoring the fact that Dick's eyes were burning holes into her back.

She hated being mad at him, truly, but that didn't excuse him for being a god-forsaken _idiot_. It had barely been four days since the whole Mister Twister fiasco when Dick hadn't thought her strong enough to help them. Okay, _maybe_ she'd had a minor, _minor_ concussion, but that didn't change the fact that her best friend thought she was worthless.

Of course, Dick also hadn't straight up _said_ that, but his actions more than spoke what his mouth didn't. He had said he worried about her, which Reese could understand, but this was _ridiculous_. He treated her like she was made of glass as if every time she did anything even _remotely_ dangerous, she'd crack and shatter, like the jagged pieces of a broken mirror.

She was stronger than that. She _knew_ that she was stronger than that. So, why couldn't Dick just see that? They were friends, weren't they?

Reese was probably closer to Dick than she was to most of the other people she knew, except for maybe Roy. They understood each other, knew what the other was thinking, but right now...she wasn't sure about anything. At least, not concerning the black-haired blue-eyed acrobat who was walking a few yards behind her.

Wally's scoffing voice broke Reese from her thoughts, and Silverbird glanced over her shoulder at the speedster as he spoke.

"So, now _El Luchador_ is our leader?" Robin hit him as he walked past, but both boys froze when Reese glared at them.

After she turned back around, Dick looked down at his feet, scuffing his toe against the dirt. He hated it when they were fighting because it meant he wasn't able to spend time with his favorite person.

But, he also supposed it was sort of his fault that Reese was mad in the first place. She'd had a point earlier when she had said that it _probably_ would have been a good idea to tell the others what he was up to with the whole ' _vanish into the jungle'_ shtick.

At the time, he'd been too preoccupied, adrenaline flooding his veins with a high that only came when he was in costume, only came when he was _Robin_ , to think about what would happen if the others _didn't_ know what he was doing.

Now, Dick had to figure out how to fix things with Reese, before she completely shut down. When Reese was mad, she got impulsive, and when she was impulsive, she got reckless, and Roy would _kill him_ if anything happened to his little sister.

Not that the Boy Wonder told the red-haired archer _everything_ that happened with him and Reese. Not that the Boy Wonder told Roy how he _felt._ Well, he wasn't entirely sure about that last part. Batman wasn't really one to talk about emotions with, now or ever, and it wasn't like Dick could talk to _Reese_ about it. That could only end badly.

And the _last_ thing Dick wanted was to ruin his friendship with the person he valued most in the world.

Finally, after what seemed like _forever_ inside the Boy Wonder's head, Bane stopped in front of a control panel, letting it scan his thumb for a moment before a small light flashed green, and a door slid open.

Poking her head around the edge, Silverbird saw that it seemed like the tunnel Bane had led them did indeed lead to Santa Prisca's Venom factory. So, Bane hadn't been lying about _that._

"Way's clear," she said, and they began to make their way through the factory. Somewhere along the way though, Robin disappeared again, and Reese's temper got steadily worse.

"Has that little fool already been caught?" Bane grumbled, looking over his shoulder at the rest of them, and Silverbird scowled.

"You'll start to see that he just _does that_ ," Her eyes landed on the control room on the floor above them, and an idea suddenly grew inside Reese's head. She turned to Kaldur. "I think I know where Robin's going," she said. "Mind if I go and knock some sense into him?"

Aqualad waved a hand as if to say " _go ahead",_ and Silverbird turned around, shooting a grappling arrow and letting it yank her up onto the catwalk, at the same time that Robin ran across.

Dick's mask lenses widened as if his eyes did the same the second he saw her, but Reese was still mad at him, as she rightly should be. Instead of saying anything, all the brunette did was shoot a knockout arrow inside the control room, making the cultist inside go unconscious.

"We had a pact, Robin," she said softly once they both got inside the control room, Dick knocking the cultist to the floor so he was able to hack into the computer. "Did that really mean so little to you that you didn't care whether I knew where you were or not?"

"What?" Robin questioned, sounding surprised as he stopped typing to turn around and look at the girl behind him. "No, that's not it _at_ _all_. Pretty bird, you were right earlier. This team is _not_ the same as me and Batman. I guess, I just got so caught up in wanting to _be_ the leader, I just..."

"Ignored everyone else in pursuit of your own goals, without once thinking about how we would feel if we found out you were missing, right before two squads of thugs got into a shootout in the middle of a Caribbean jungle?"

For a moment, all Robin did was blink. "Well," he began finally. "When you put it like _that_ , it kinda makes me sound like some sort of--"

"--dick?" Reese asked, and Dick glared at her. But, despite the fact of the name-calling, she was cooling down, and as it were, the brunette giggled, covering her mouth with one hand. "Sorry," she said, and Robin turned around again.

"No you're not," he retorted, but Robin would be lying if there wasn't a small up-turn to his mouth as well. He was just glad they were talking again.

Dick's fingers flew across the keyboard as Reese leaned over his shoulder, bringing up the cell structure for Venom just as Wally sped into the control room, munching on a protein bar.

"Hey, lovebirds!" the speedster exclaimed, causing both Robin and Silverbird to turn and glare at him. After a moment, KF continued. "Whatcha got?" Reese leaned towards the computer again, peering at the information structure that had popped up on the screen.

"Chemical formulas," she answered, and Dick continued her thought, because sometimes they were just _that_ in-tune with each other, regardless if Reese was currently mad at him or not.

"We're guessing it involves Venom, but--" Wally gestured with his protein bar as another molecular formula appeared on the screen.

"This one's Venom," he began. "And that one's--whoa," Reese's eyes widened behind her domino mask, and she was suddenly very aware of the fact that Robin was staring at her.

"The Blockbuster formula from Cadmus," she whispered, and Wally nodded.

"Mixed correctly, Kobra's new juice is three times _stronger_ than Venom,"

"And _permanent_ ," Reese added, before turning to glance at Dick. "But how did _Kobra_ get access to Project Blockbuster?"

Robin's eyes narrowed as he thought. "Our mystery buyer must _also_ be Kobra's supplier! Using the cult to create a Blockbuster-Venom _super-_ formula!"

Reese reached up and tapped her comm. "Silverbird to Aqualad. We got--static," when the burst of white noise hit her eardrums, Reese flinched. There was something blocking their communications, and she couldn't reach Kaldur, M'gann, _or_ Superboy.

It didn't look like Robin or Kid Flash were having better luck than she was. When the sound of gunfire reached their ears next, along with various crashes, Reese had a feeling they'd be fighting the bad guys sooner, rather than later.

The three of them, her, Dick, and Wally, ran out onto the catwalk again, in time to see the others fighting, whether it be against cultists or Sportsmaster, who had somehow suddenly arrived, though Reese had a feeling that meant _he_ was the mystery buyer of the Kobra Venom.

Suddenly, Robin had grabbed her hand and dragged Silverbird along with him.

"This time--" Dick began, pushing Reese's head down before a blast of energy would've taken off her head in one clean shot. "You're coming with me," Suddenly, M'gann's voice appeared inside Reese's head, and her eyes widened.

' _Everyone online?'_ she asked, and one by one, they each gave their answers.

' _Yeah,'_

_'You know it, beautiful,'_

_'Good, we need to regroup,'_

_'Can't, kinda going up against Kobra at the moment,'_

_'She's right. Busy now,'_ Robin added as he and Silverbird landed on the edge of the helipad before the cultist who thought he was a god sneered at them.

"Batman and Green Arrow must be desperate," Kobra said. "If they send their _whelps_ to task me,"

"What's wrong, Koby?" Robin shot back gleefully. "You look disconcerted,"

"Aw," Silverbird added, one hand placed against her hip. "It can't be us, can it, Robin? And here I was, thinking we were _so_ likable,"

"This is beneath me," Kobra said dryly, blatantly ignoring the Boy Wonder's comment. "Shimmer, take them,"

Shimmer, who was a tall, slender woman with orange hair shaved on the right side of her head, ran forward, but Reese and Dick both leaped over her head without breaking a sweat.

' _Robin, Silverbird_ ,' Kaldur's voice appeared in Reese's head again, sounding a bit irritated. ' _Now_!'

Realizing that _maybe_ Aqualad had a point, Reese quickly pulled a trick arrow from her quiver, before shooting it straight at the ground. It exploded in a flash of light that gave her and Robin an opportunity to escape from Shimmer and Kobra, running back into the warehouse.

' _We need to retreat,'_ Aqualad said through the mental link again. ' _Kid, clear a path,'_

Wally did as asked, knocking cultists to the floor as he ran through them. Reese, despite her shortened stature, pushed her legs as fast as they would go as she slid into the tunnel right before Superboy locked the door.

They hadn't gotten very far before Mammoth, presumably a result of someone being given Kobra Venom, busted down the door. She figured having Superboy punch the support beams of the tunnel _could_ be a viable solution to getting Mammoth off their tail, but Reese had a better idea.

Skidding to a stop, Silverbird spun around so she was facing the direction they had come from, oblivious to the way Robin had stumbled when he realized she wasn't following anymore, and she screamed, the Canary Cry's frequency making the rocks and dirt above them fall to the tunnel's floor, effectively cutting the young heroes off from the cultists and Mammoth.

It also blasted everyone back several yards, so that was nice too.

As soon as they were all relatively safe, Kaldur grabbed a glowstick, cracking it and letting a faint red glow bathe everything around them. Beside Reese, Robin practically glared at the wall that had appeared when Silverbird had Canary Cried.

"How could my _first_ mission as Leader go so wrong?" Dick grumbled, and Reese gently wrapped her fingers around his as Kaldur spoke up from behind them.

"Earlier, Silverbird was correct," Aqualad said calmly. "You _do_ have the most experience, but perhaps that is _exactly_ what has left you unprepared. Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are... _defined_ , you two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader must be clear. Explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan,"

"Oh, so _I'm_ supposed to hold everyone's hands?" Robin burst out, spinning around, but he stopped when Silverbird jabbed her elbow into his ribs. "Who am I kidding?" he asked, glancing to the side as he tightened his hold on Reese's hand. "You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one who can,"

" _Please_ ," Wally sneered from his spot against the wall. "I can run circles around--"

"Wally, stop it," Reese cut the speedster off, gesturing to Aqualad with her free hand. "You know he's the one. We all do,"

" _Hello_ , Megan!" M'gann exclaimed. "It's so obvious,"

"Coulda told ya," Superboy added, his facial expression not changing. Aqualad turned to glance at Wally, who still looked a bit put out, but after a moment, the redhead shrugged.

"Okay," he said simply, and Kaldur walked forward until he was standing in front of Robin.

"Then I accept the burden," the Atlantean said calmly, setting a hand on Dick's right shoulder. "Until _you_ are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon,"

Robin gave a solid nod, and Reese smiled before Kaldur turned to face everyone again.

"Our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island," he said calmly, and Dick grinned.

"Funny, I had the same thought," With that, the six of them began to make a plan, and as they ran through the tunnel again, Robin pulled up his holo-computer from his wrist gauntlet.

"If Sportsmaster's the supplier/buyer," the Boy Wonder spoke up as they ran. "It still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula _or_ to get Kobra to do his dirty work,"

Wally nodded. "And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom. That took some major nerdage,"

"I believe the expression is--" Aqualad began as they all slowed to a stop at the end of the tunnel as Bane stepped out of the shadows, a switch held in his hand. "--' _tip of the iceberg_ ',"

"Halt, niños," the man told them gruffly. "I'm feeling... _explosive_ ,"

Reese skidded to a stop, her eyes widening as they landed on the multitude of small bombs strapped to the support beams around them. _That_ must have been what Bane was lying about earlier. She...should've seen that coming, honestly.

"You betrayed us!" Kaldur exclaimed. "Why?" Bane began his explanation but Aqualad's voice inside Reese's head made the girl pause. ' _Kid, you'll need a running start,'_

"--So I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemy or _die trying_.," Bane continued, oblivious to the plan going on between the younger heroes, and frankly, Reese found the irony hilarious. "If the latter, the Justice League would _certainly_ have come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared, Santa Prisca would be _mine_ once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect,"

He pressed down on the switch in his hand, but Bane's finger hit empty air. When the man looked down, confused, Wally spoke up from behind him, waving the switch in the air.

"With what?" KF questioned, more than a little bit smug. "This trigger thingy?" Bane ran at Wally, threatening to punch him, but M'gann levitated the man before he was able to hurt the speedster.

" _Finally_ ," Superboy grinned. "Drop him," When M'gann did so, Superboy slammed his fist straight into Bane's face, and the man dropped like a rock.

Then, with Bane out of the way, the team headed back to the factory, where Sportsmaster was getting ready to fly out, _with_ the Kobra Venom.

While the others took care of Mammoth and Kobra's cultists, Robin and Silverbird went up to meet Shimmer and Kobra again, Dick throwing one of his bolas to wrap around the orange-haired woman, knocking her away.

"I know you hate getting your hands dirty," Robin smirked towards Kobra.

"True," the extremist reluctantly agreed, taking his cloak off to reveal a bare chest and bald head. "But, sometimes, even a _god_ must stoop to conquer,"

Reese and Dick didn't even need to look at each other before they were moving forward towards Kobra, kicking out at the same time. But, Kobra managed to catch both of their feet in one hand, throwing them back.

Silverbird landed in a crouch, her hood falling around her shoulders. By now, her braid had begun to come out, and strands of silver and chocolate brown were fluttering in front of her eyes.

"What's wrong, boy?" Kobra sneered when Dick landed next to Reese as the latter brushed the hair from her face. "You look disconcerted,"

Then, quick as lightning, Kobra struck, and Robin and Silverbird were put on the defensive. Despite the fact that the odds were 2 to 1, Kobra moved as a snake would...no pun intended. He was lithe and much faster than he seemed.

He kicked Reese away, and she thudded onto the ground beside Dick just as Sportsmaster's helicopter exploded the warehouse, a cloud of fire sending plumes of smoke into the air.

While Kobra's foot was placed against Robin's chest, pressing down on the thirteen-year-old, the extremist reached forward and grabbed Silverbird's neck, yanking her upward as Reese scratched at his fingers. Honestly, what _was_ it with people and grabbing her neck?

"No breath, no scream," Kobra sneered again. "I am plagued by _mosquitoes_ ," Robin, from his spot still stuck under the extremist's foot, scowled.

" _Good_ ," he grumbled as Reese's face began to inch towards purple. " 'Cause this mosquito's mighty _concerted_ over your pain!"

In one lithe movement, Dick swung his legs out, managing to escape from underneath Kobra's foot, flipping backward as the others, i.e Wally, Kaldur, M'gann, and Superboy, ran forward.

For several tense seconds, Kobra still held Silverbird in his grip, but when Robin took out his birdarangs threateningly, the man scowled.

"Another time, then," he spoke, before abruptly letting go of Reese's neck, letting the brunette drop to the ground, before he disappeared into the shadows of the jungle.

Reese landed heavily on the grass, gasping for breath as Dick ran forward, dropping to his knees in front of the silver archer without a second thought and gently brushing her hair away with his fingers so he would be able to see her neck. Meanwhile, Wally went and looked through the bushes for any sign of Kobra, but to no avail.

"Dude's gone," Kid Flash spoke up, turning back to the others after a few seconds. "Snake's in the grass," After his last statement, Wally chuckled a bit. "Heh, snake in the grass. Get it?"

Dick gave him a dry look over Reese's shoulder, but Robin didn't say anything to him until a few seconds later, when, after he and Reese had both stood to their feet, the Boy Wonder turned to Aqualad.

"We picked the right guy to lead," he said, before turning towards where the warehouse was still burning behind them. "Automatically making _you_ the best one to explain _this_ mess to Batman,"

As he walked away, Dick began to cackle gleefully but was abruptly cut off when Reese jabbed his ribs again.

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
July 23, 10:01 EDT**

"A _simple_ recon mission," Batman stalked in front of Reese and the others after they had returned from their ' _recon mission'_ , dressed in civvies once more. " _Observe_ and _report_. You'll _each_ receive a written evaluation detailing your _many_ mistakes. Until then...good job,"

Reese wasn't the only one to snap their head up at one of the Batman's rare, _rare_ compliments.

"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you _adjust_ to the unforeseen is what determines success. And how you choose who leads--" next to Reese, she saw Kaldur glance at Dick, while the Boy Wonder cracked a small smile. "--determines character,"

With that, Batman walked back down the corridor, and the team dispersed, going off to do whatever it was each of them did in their free time.

Reese went to walk to the Zeta tube in order to go back to Star City, but Dick flashed a hand out at the last moment, stopping her in her tracks.

"I know I can't say this enough," he began. "But I am _so_ sorry, pretty bird, for what happened on Santa Prisca. I didn't mean to scare you like that,"

"It's fine, Robin," Reese answered, using Dick's alias since Superboy was still in the main cave, but the thirteen-year-old vehemently shook his head.

"No, Rhysalin, it's not. I went off without telling anyone, and you and Wally almost got hurt because of it. I _promise_ I'll either bring you _with_ me next time or tell you what's going on. We made that pact for a reason, didn't we? To watch each other's back?"

"Dick..." Reese began as soon as Superboy had walked out. "It's okay. _Really_. You realized your mistake and rectified it. Everyone makes mistakes. Heck, even _Batman_. Nobody's perfect, but what's important is that you _realize_ when you make a mistake, and make up for it,"

" _Have_ I made up for my mistake?" Dick asked, suddenly looking very, _very_ nervous. "Pretty bird, you're my _best friend_. Don't let Wally know I said that," Dick muttered the last part in a whisper, but it made Reese giggle. "I don't want to lose you,"

"You won't Boy Wonder," Reese said calmly, reaching forward and lacing Dick's fingers with hers. "I promise. I will _always_ be by your side, no matter what the galaxy threatens to throw at us,"

Dick glanced over at her. "When'd you get so philosophical?"

Reese waved a hand through the air. "Blame Dinah. I think being around a therapist for extended periods of time drew some sort of... _mental poetry_ into my head,"

"Mental poetry?" Dick echoed, grinning.

"My thoughts come out sounding weirdly poetic," Reese explained, but Dick only chuckled, shaking his head fondly.

"You're something else, Rhysalin Blaire. Something else," Blaire was Reese's middle name, and Dick was really the only person who used it.

"You're not too bad yourself, Grayson," As they reached the Zeta tubes, Dick glanced over at her again.

"You wanna come to Gotham to make up for that movie night we missed after Cadmus?"

"Sure," Reese agreed. "Only if we get to watch my favorite movie," Dick sighed because as much as Reese loved the movie, Dick hated it even more.

"The things I do for you, pretty bird," he muttered under his breath. "The things I do,"


	9. 7. Schooled

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
August 3, 13:06 EDT**

Reese would be lying if she said she didn't feel the tiniest bit smug. And rightly so. A little less than twenty minutes ago, the twelve-year-old had won fantastically against Robin in a game of air hockey, a fact that the Boy Wonder was still bitter about.

But, then she had gone up against Aqualad, and to say Kaldur demolished her would be an understatement. Robin found _that_ undeniably _hilarious_.

_Hmph,_ Reese thought to herself. _Hypocrite._

Now, Aqualad was going against Kid Flash and Reese was giggling at the fact that Wally was losing against the Atlantean just as much as she had. Wally finally landed a goal, and Reese grinned as Kaldur scowled. Before either of them could say anything though, the Zeta tube turned on.

**_Recognized Superboy B-0-5_ **

The first thing that Reese noticed when Superboy walked out of the transporter was that he was, most definitely _not_ happy.

"Hello, Superboy!" M'gann greeted the clone cheerfully. "How was Metropolis?" Instead of answering the Martian, Superboy just walked on ahead. Reese had a feeling that Metropolis had _not_ been a fun experience.

But, before she was able to say anything, footsteps reached her ears, and Reese turned to see Black Canary and Martian Manhunter walking in.

"Ready for training everyone?" Dinah asked, and M'gann grinned as she caught sight of her uncle.

"Black Canary. Uncle J'onn!" she exclaimed, before running up to hug the other martian.

"M'gann," Manhunter began, smiling softly. "I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd see how you were adjusting,"

"A few bumps," M'gann admitted. "But I'm learning,"

"That's all I can ask," J'onn answered quietly. Movement from behind her made Reese turn around, and she saw Superboy trying to sneak out of the room. But, before the clone could get very far, Dinah spoke up.

"Stick around," the blonde said simply. "Class is in session," Though he didn't walk closer to them again, Superboy didn't leave the room either, instead opting to stand off to the side, arms crossed, looking grumpy again.

Black Canary stepped onto the main circle, letting it glow beneath her feet for a moment before she spoke again.

"I consider it an honor to be your teacher. My assistant," she threw a glance towards Reese, who grinned as everyone else turned to stare at her. "And I will throw a lot at you. I've taught Silverbird everything I know, from my own mentors," Dinah winced a bit as she shrugged off her leather jacket, and Reese narrowed her eyes when she caught sight of a bandage wrapped around her bicep. "And my own bruises,"

"What happened?" M'gann gasped.

"The job," Dinah answered simply, and Reese's eyes widened as the dots connected in her brain.

"That's why you sent me to Gotham this morning," she said quietly. "You and Arrow went up against something, but when I said I wanted to help, you sent me to Gotham instead,"

"I'm sorry, baby bird," Dinah said softly. "But it was too dangerous for you,"

"Too dangerous," Reese scoffed under her breath, glancing to the side and avoiding Black Canary's eyes. "Right,"

Dinah sighed, and, realizing it would do no good to talk to the brunette about it now, completely changed the subject, placing her hands on her hips. "Now, combat is about _controlling_ conflict, putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never _reacting._ Reese, since she's been taught almost everything I know, will need a sparring partner,"

To _everyone's_ shock and surprise, Wally's hand was the first one to shoot up.

"Right here!" the speedster exclaimed, and Reese felt her jaw slacken. _Weird_ , Wally usually _hated_ it when they sparred, which wasn't very often, because, more often than not, the brunette ended up completely wiping the floor with him.

"You sure?" Reese spoke up skeptically as KF walked towards her, finishing up his banana and throwing the peel into a nearby trashcan.

"Yep!" the redhead exclaimed as the peel landed in the bin. "And after this--swish, I'll show you _my moves_ ," Reese's eyes widened. Wally _never_ flirted with her, for fear of pissing off Dick, why Reese had never known, but right now, the speedster looked like he was throwing caution to the wind.

"Okay..." the brunette said slowly, getting into a ready stance, before suddenly lashing out, throwing her fist towards Wally's head, but the speedster managed to block her arm. Reese's foot, on the other hand, he wasn't able to dodge, and within two seconds Wally's back was against the floor.

**_Kid Flash Fail._ **

"Ow," Wally groaned. "Hurts so good..."

"You're lucky I didn't judo-flip you," Reese smiled, extending a hand to help the speedster up. Dinah, on the other hand, just shook her head, turning to the others.

"Did anyone see what he did wrong?" the older woman asked, and this time, Robin's hand was the first in the air.

"He hit on his sparring partner and got absolutely _served_ ," it wasn't said as a question, more of a statement, and Dick's body was practically trembling with an emotion that Reese wasn't really able to identify.

"He allowed Reese to dictate the terms of--"

"Oh please," Superboy scoffed, causing all of them to glance over at him as Reese walked off the training circle, going to stand by Dick again. "With _my_ powers, the battle is always on my terms. I'm a living weapon, and this is a waste of my time,"

"Prove it,"

"I'm not fighting Reese," the brunette scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at Superboy.

"Why not?" the twelve-year-old asked, jerking her thumb towards Wally. "I just beat _him_ in three seconds flat,"

"You're too short and small,"

Next to her, Reese heard Dick suck in a sharp breath, and Reese's eyebrow twitched, which only happened when she was really, _really_ mad. Reese knew she was less than tall, being a few inches shorter than Robin even, but on most occasions, her small and slender physique came to be an advantage, with sneaking around and all that.

But, that also didn't stop people from teasing her about it. The few civilians she knew, which Reese, admittedly, didn't hang out with that much (she much preferred her hero friends and the Justice League) somehow always brought the conversation back to the fact that the brunette was short.

"Superboy, I wouldn't," Robin spoke up, stepping in between Reese and the Cadmus clone. "She's not really one you want to bring up the _s-word_ with,"

"No, Boy Wonder," Silverbird held up a hand, moving her hood so it fell around her shoulders. She wasn't wearing her domino mask right now, so her warm brown eyes, which were practically _blazing_ with barely controlled fury, were on full display. "It's fine. If Superboy thinks he can't beat me in sparring because ' _I'm too small'_ , then I'll just have to prove him wrong then, won't I?"

Dick still looked reluctant, but Dinah shrugged from her spot on the training circle.

"I think it's a great idea," Black Canary said. "It will be a good training exercise,"

For a moment, after they both got into ready stances when Robin stepped back, all Reese and Superboy did was stare at each other, before the clone launched himself forward with a hard punch.

Silverbird ducked to the side, and Superboy's hand whistled past her ear. Swinging her leg out much like she did when she was sparring with Wally, Reese kicked the back of Superboy's knees, straight at his MCL, and the clone's legs buckled, bringing him to his knees.

Superboy's face turned angry, well, _angrier_ , and Reese had a sudden feeling that maybe this _hadn't_ been the best idea. Dick was always saying she got reckless when _she_ was angry. _Whoops_.

"You're angry," Dinah spoke up again, nodding towards Superboy from her spot outside the circle. "Good. But, don't react. Channel that anger into--"

Reese had to stop listening to Black Canary's advice because Superboy's fist was suddenly flying towards her face again. Luckily, along with the enhanced senses came a faster reaction time, and Reese was able to snap her hand out, stopping Superboy's before his fist was able to hit her.

As it were, the momentum made Silverbird skid back a few feet, and she heard M'gann's voice faintly. She was more focused on the fight right now to listen much.

"Uh, Canary?" the martian was asking, raising her hand up a bit. "Don't you think we should stop them?"

Reese flipped backward to avoid Superboy and her boots hit the edge of the circle, her heel going slightly over the edge.

"I too believe that this may be an opportune time to cease the fight," Kaldur added, and Dinah gave a small nod, frowning as she frantically tried to follow the fast movements of Reese and the genomorph.

"Superboy, enough!" but, it didn't seem that the clone heard her, because his punches began to come faster, harder, and Reese was put on the defensive.

When one flying fist got a _bit too close_ to her nose for her liking, Silverbird slipped her hand into a hidden pocket of her jacket, bringing out a small cylinder.

Reese wasn't the biggest fan of using her titanium bō staff, which would extend to full-size if she pressed a button, she much preferred her bow, but right now, it was kind of necessary. And she couldn't really use a long-range weapon in here.

The brunette gently tapped her index finger against the button on the side of the cylinder, before swinging the metal staff straight towards Superboy. It slammed into the clone's jaw, and the momentum managed to throw him back, causing Superboy to lose his balance and stumble to the ground.

"Stop it!" This time, the shout came from Robin, and it finally made Superboy pause in his melee for long enough that Reese was able to catch her breath, the staff slipping from her fingers to clatter to the floor as the brunette bent over, her lungs heaving.

After a moment, her shoulders began to shake, and Robin stared at Silverbird wearily, worried she had somehow gotten hurt, when Reese glanced upward, looking towards Superboy, a _grin_ spreading across her face.

"In terms of raw power..." she began. "You're good. Just don't call me short again, and we'll be just fine," For a few seconds, all Superboy did was blink, cupping his jaw with one hand.

"Uh, _thanks_?" he answered, sounding confused, before turning to Black Canary, who shrugged.

"Training _is_ mandatory," the blonde said, but before anyone could respond, there was an alert coming through on the holo-computer, before Batman appeared on the hovering blue screen.

" _Batman to the Cave,_ " he began. " _Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary,_ "

Another screen appeared next to the transmission, and Reese's eyes widened as she saw a tall orange humanoid being getting attacked by the Justice League.

Batman then continued his briefing. " _The attacker was capable of studying and duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents. Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous, as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant,_ "

"That's what you didn't want me fighting this morning?" Reese turned towards Dinah, and Black Canary gave a solid nod in response.

"He had already copied my Canary Cry," she explained, before nodding again towards Reese. "And considering _yours_ is almost twice as powerful, we didn't want to risk it,"

Meanwhile, Wally gaped. "Whoa..." he breathed out. "One guy with the powers of the entire league?"

" _In the end, it took eight leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android,_ "

"An android?" Robin and Silverbird exclaimed in unison before Dick made eye contact with his mentor. "Who made it? T.O Morrow?"

" _Good guess, Robin, but no. Red Tornado doesn't think so,_ "

"The technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo," Martian Manhunter explained, and Reese's eyes widened.

"Ivo?" she echoed, exchanging a glance with Dick. "But, isn't Ivo, oh I don't know, _dead_?"

"We thought so," Black Canary said gravely. "Or at least...we had hoped,"

" _To make sure the threat is permanently neutralized, we're sending two trucks carrying the android parts to two separate STAR Lab facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken. We'll have four additional decoy trucks to create confusion in case Ivo, or anyone else tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks,_"

"Yes!" Wally exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. "Road trip!"

"So now we take out your trash?" Superboy grumbled, and the lenses of Batman's cowl narrowed dangerously.

" _You had something better to do_?"

**L I T C H F I E L D C O U N T Y  
** **August 3, 20:08 EDT**

Along with the motorbikes that all of them now had, Batman had also provided the younger heroes with clothes they'd use as part of their ' _undercover operation_ '.

Reese herself was dressed in black skinny jeans, heeled boots, a silvery t-shirt, black fingerless gloves, and a black leather jacket with silver seams and stripes down her sleeves, quiver slung over her shoulder, with her collapsed bow in its own holster. Reese's hair wasn't in her normal fishtail side-braid, instead, it was plaited so it hung down her back, the silver streak weaving through. That way, it wouldn't be so awkward and hard to manage when she had her helmet on.

Road safety, and all that.

The team was concealed by a thick clump of bushes, where a few yards away, Batman, Green Arrow, Flash, and Superman looked over the gathering of the parts of the android in order to bring them to STAR Labs.

Through the bushes, Reese saw Superman turn and look in their direction, but when Clark's eyes landed on Superboy, the Man of Steel quickly turned away.

Superboy's hands clenched around the handlebars of his bike, and Reese blew a breath out. So _that_ was what was bothering him so much? She thought _Batman_ was supposed to be the detached one, not the Boy Scout.

Speaking of Batman, Bruce gave the drivers of the trucks a signal, and Reese set her black and silver helmet on top of her head. Beginning to see a color scheme? She thought it'd be an opportune time to mention her bike was _also_ black, with silver accents.

She would, along with Robin and Superboy, be following the truck that was heading to Manhattan, while Wally, Kaldur, and M'gann were guarding the Boston truck.

When the trucks reached a junction in the highway, both of their teams split, and for several minutes, everything was silent, until Robin rode his bike up next to Reese.

"If dislike is the opposite of like," he began, causing the brunette to glance over at him. "Is disaster the opposite of _aster_? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right,"

For a moment, all Reese did was blink at him, before she shook her head.

"Seriously, Boy Wonder," she began. "What did the English language ever do to you?"

"Not have enough words?" Dick answered before his eyes flicked over her shoulder to look at Superboy, who hadn't said anything. "Clearly, you're not feeling the aster. What's wrong, SB?"

"Canary," he grumbled, and Reese turned her head to look at him. "I mean what business does she have teaching _combat_ _skills_ to a guy with super strength?"

"Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig," Robin answered simply. "Canary learned that the hard way. Same with Batman, Green Arrow, and well...Reese and I,"

But, Superboy just sped up again, leaving Dick and Reese alone. After a few minutes of companionable silence, Robin spoke up.

"That was pretty cool," he began, causing Reese to glance over at him. "What you did earlier, with Superboy. But, I thought you didn't like using your staff?"

"I don't," the brunette shrugged simply. "But, I also wasn't about to let Superboy win, especially when he called me short. _Nobody_ calls me short,"

"So, pretty bird, can I call you--" Reese just glared at him. She wouldn't even let Dick call her short. Reese knew she was insecure about a lot of things, and her height was _most definitely_ one of them.

"Don't. Even," she grumbled, and Robin gave a sheepish grin from underneath his helmet. Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the cornfield off to her side, and Reese snapped her head in that direction.

"What is it?" Robin asked, looking worried, but Reese only narrowed her eyes at the full field of maize. She strained her ears again, and this time was able to catch the sound of...

" _Laughter_ ," she whispered, and Robin raised an eyebrow, before what looked like a _robotic monkey_ suddenly latched itself onto the edge of the truck.

Aqualad's voice suddenly came through her comm. " _Silverbird, Robin, Superboy! Our truck is under attack_!"

"Kinda figured," Robin added, as more and more monkeys appeared from the field.

"So is ours," Silverbird agreed quickly as Superboy scowled from in front of them.

"I hate monkeys," he grumbled.

"Robot monkeys!" Robin laughed. " _Totally_ Ivo's tweak style,"

Meanwhile, Reese prepped her bike for auto-pilot, before steadying herself on the sides and taking her hands off the handlebars. Then, making sure to keep her balance, Reese stood up, perching somewhat precariously on her motorcycle's seat.

"Whoa, pretty bird!" Dick exclaimed, eyes wide. " _What_ are you doing?"

For once, Silverbird ignored the Boy Wonder, instead opting to stick her tongue out in concentration, before taking a daring leap, launching herself off her bike and onto the side of the transport truck, which had begun to swerve as the driver was assaulted by the robo-monkeys.

Taking off her helmet, Reese swiped at the monkeys, knocking a few away, but it hardly caused a dent in the sheer amount that were already on the truck.

Superboy as well jumped off his bike, but he was less controlled, and the vehicle skidded, ramming into Reese's own bike, and Robin's, though Dick managed to jump off before he crashed.

A robot suddenly landed on the back of Reese's head, small fingers gripping hard at her hair, and the brunette growled, throwing her head backward so the monkey slammed into the side of the truck, but the monkey wasn't deterred. If anything, it held on _harder_.

"Hold still!" Dick's voice shouted before Robin kicked his foot out, knocking the robot off of Silverbird's head, though in the process, it dislodged her hair tie, and Reese's hair began to fly in the wind, blowing in front of her face, silver and chocolate-colored strands alike.

"Thanks," she said, and Dick grinned.

Superboy, meanwhile, was being less than successful, considering some of the monkeys picked him up and quite literally _dropped_ him off the edge of the truck. Then, Silverbird and Robin flipped onto the top of the truck, Dick with his eskrima sticks, Reese with her bow, and they began to move through the pseudo-cloud of robot monkeys, looking more like they were dancing together, rather than fighting.

"Get behind me!" Reese shouted suddenly, and once Dick was behind her shoulder, she screamed, and eight of the monkeys were blown off the top of the truck by a super-powered soundwave as Superboy jumped up behind Silverbird and Robin.

But, a few of the robots still managed to hold on, and a couple switched their targets from Reese and Dick to Superboy, as another shot lasers from its eyes into the top of the truck, burning through the metal.

Suddenly, there was a loud pop, and Reese stuck her head over the side of the truck to see that more of the monkeys had used their own lasers to blow out the truck's tires, making the truck swerve even more.

Reese kicked the robots away, but the damage was already done, and if they didn't bail soon, things would begin to get a bit messy.

"Robin!" she shouted, jumping to land on the truck's hood, and hitting away more monkeys. "Get the driver!"

Dick jumped down onto the top of the truck's cab. "Get out!" he yelled as Reese yanked open the door. Both of them grabbed the terrified man's shoulders and dragged him out of the swerving vehicle. Luckily, the three managed to land in a dry section of the cornfield on the side of the road.

Then, there was a loud bang, before robot monkeys flew out of the truck, carrying a large container between them. _The android parts_ , Reese realized. _Crap._ She and Robin helped the injured driver to the side of the road as Superboy lifted the truck off of himself before he super-jumped away.

"Superboy!" the two youngest heroes called out in unison, but the genomorph either didn't hear them, which was unlikely, or he ignored them.

" _Aqualad to Robin and Silverbird_ ," Kaldur's voice came through the comm, and Reese tapped the device in her ear. " _Lost our cargo. Did you--_ "

"It's gone," Reese said simply, exchanging a glance with Dick, who groaned at the pure wreckage that was around them. Their crashed motorcycles, the truck, everything was just a big _mess_.

"And so is our partner," Robin grumbled.

" _Aqualad to Superboy,_ " Kaldur said next. " _Radio your position. We'll help you,_ "

" _Don't need help_!" the genomorph's rough voice cried back. " _Don't want any!"_

" _Superboy_!"

"I'm pretty sure he ditched his comm," Robin pointed out, and Silverbird glanced over, giving Dick a dry look.

"Oh, gee, whatever gave you that idea?" The Boy Wonder scowled at her, but there wasn't any real anger in his gaze.

" _Super,_ " Wally grumbled. " _Now we can't even track him,_ "

" _He's out of my telepathic range_ ," M'gann added worriedly. " _This Professor Ivo, if he is alive, seems to be two steps ahead of us. Maybe we should contact Red Tornado?_ "

Reese then zoned out of the conversation, her eyes landing on one of the crushed robotic monkeys that lay on the road. Running her teeth over her bottom lip, she stood up, walking over to the small robot, oblivious to Dick's inquisitive stare behind her.

"-- _don't even know where to look!_ " Wally was saying, and Reese hummed in thought, bending down next to the fallen monkey as Robin walked up behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder at Dick, who tilted his head to the side in a silent question.

"What if--" Reese began quietly, eyes flicking between Dick and the monkey. "--What if we did?"

"She's right," Robin agreed, crouching down next to her and plugging in his holo-computer. "We'd have heard by now if the decoy trucks had been attacked,"

"You think the monkeys already knew which trucks held the android parts?" Reese asked, and Robin grinned.

"Hah!" he exclaimed as the information appeared on his miniature holo-screen. "The parts have GPS!"

"Which _means_ the monkeys can track it!" Silverbird added as dots began to connect in her brain.

"Which _also_ means _we_ can track _them_ with the one we captured!"

"Not too shabby, Boy Wonder," Reese grinned, sharing a quick high-five with Dick as Wally, Kaldur, and M'gann all sighed amusedly on the other end of their commline.

"You're not too bad yourself, pretty bird," Dick retorted before his fingers almost seemed to fly across the holo-keyboard as a map appeared. "Looks like both sets are headed for... _Gotham City_ ," Reese's eyes widened, and she and Dick exchanged a startled glance before Aqualad spoke up again.

" _That far south_?" Kaldur asked. " _M'gann and I won't get there anytime soon. I'm sending Kid on ahead to meet you. Aqualad out,_ "

With that, Dick and Reese stood up, the former pulling off his jacket, revealing his Robin costume underneath. Suddenly, Reese groaned, realizing what it was that she had forgotten before they left Mount Justice earlier that afternoon.

"What?" Robin asked, switching out his shades for a domino mask, and the brunette sighed.

"I didn't bring any extra clothes," she groaned, gesturing to herself. "What I'm wearing now is all I have," Dick flicked his eyes over her form for a moment, from the jacket that crossed Reese's shoulders, to the heeled boots that actually made them the same height.

After a moment, he cleared his throat, meeting Reese's eyes again.

"Do you at least have an extra mask?" he asked, and the brunette gave a small nod. "Then just use that. It's not like what you're wearing now is a whole lot different from your normal color scheme,"

With that, Reese walked over to her fallen motorcycle, which was completely totaled from Superboy's rampage earlier. Luckily, she was able to pop open a hidden compartment, revealing a spare domino mask.

"Well," Robin began as Reese pulled the mask from its compartment. "This has been a total disaster. _Heavy_ on the dis,"

"Tell me about it," Reese muttered before she bent down, shaking out her hair before lurching upward again. When she turned back around to face Dick, the brunette found his face looking faintly pink, and his heartbeat was a bit faster than what was considered normal.

Also, he was staring at her.

"What?" she asked, feeling her face heat up, and Robin averted his eyes.

"Nothing," he answered quickly, almost _too_ quickly, and Reese raised an eyebrow. "Your hair," Dick said eventually. "It looks...nice,"

"Boy Wonder, you've seen my hair down before," she said, and Dick shrugged.

"I know," he answered. "It's just...it's pretty,"

"Oh," Reese answered softly, her face burning even more. "Thanks," Robin just grinned.

"Considering your bike is completely busted," he began after a moment, scratching the back of his neck and looking suddenly sheepish. "Wanna ride with me?"

"Sure," Reese answered. "It's not like I'm patient enough for _Wally_ to come running,"

Dick smiled again before his smaller battle-mode bike came into view. Once it stopped in front of them, Robin reached inside the seat compartment, grabbing an extra helmet and tossing it to Reese, who caught it effortlessly.

"Spare," he said simply, swinging his leg over the side of the bike. "You know, wouldn't want your head breaking,"

"So considerate of you," Reese muttered as she climbed onto the bike behind Dick, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I try," Robin revved the engine before driving down the road. But, it only took Reese a few seconds to realize that something was wrong.

"Uh, Dick?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"You're going the wrong way,"

"Oh, right," Dick quickly turned around, and Reese giggled as she tightened her hold on his waist.

"Smooth, Boy Wonder. So smooth,"

**G O T H A M C I T Y  
** **August 3, 20:30 EDT**

Somewhere along their way towards Gotham, Reese had closed her eyes, leaning her head against the back of Robin's shoulder.

Dick wasn't entirely sure if she was asleep or not, but her breathing was slow and even, so he was willing to bet she had. That was okay, he liked these moments. The silent ones, when it was just the two of them.

Robin leaned back slightly, and Reese's arms tightened her hold around him. Suddenly there was a burst of wind, before Kid Flash was running beside his motorcycle, smirking.

"Well, would you look at that?" Wally began, and Dick glowered at him. "I spy with my little eye, two little lovebirds--"

" _Shh_!" Robin quickly cut him off. "Quiet. She's sleeping, KF,"

"No, I'm not," Reese's voice startled Dick so much he swerved, but the Boy Wonder recovered quickly. "I was just resting my eyes,"

"Doesn't that count as sleeping?" Dick glanced over his shoulder as he drove, and Reese turned his head back around.

"Eyes on the road!" she exclaimed as Wally chuckled next to them, before finally getting a good look at the redhead running beside the motorcycle. "I see you've changed,"

"You kidding?" Wally retorted. "Ugh, I feel naked in civvies,"

"Thanks for that _wonderful_ mental image, KF," Reese said sarcastically, and the speedster winced when Dick glared at him.

"Sorry," he said quickly, before raising an eyebrow. "I see _you_ haven't,"

Reese sighed. "I didn't bring an extra costume," she explained, shrugging. "But, I had an extra mask, so I just put that on instead,"

"You still tracking the parts?" Wally asked next, turning to look at Dick, who nodded, pointing at the holo-screen.

"They were heading through Gotham--" he began, but Reese cut him off, pointing.

"No, look, they're veering. Wait, Dick isn't that--"

"Dude, they're headed for my school!"

Once the three of them got within the city limits of Gotham, Robin veered, heading towards a large, imposing building with wrought iron gates. _Gotham Academy._

"Indoor basketball court!" Reese shouted, and Robin swerved, turning a corner for a shortcut. Reese squeaked, tightening her grip around him as they both leaned to the side. "Are you _trying_ to get us killed?" she cried, and Dick glanced over his shoulder sparingly before turning back around.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "But, pretty bird, I don't know about you, but I think that's the perfect spot for us to finally _slam dunk_ that Ivo,"

"Hilarious," Reese said dryly as they sped past the football field, but she was wearing a small smile. "A _real_ comedian,"

Finally, the basketball court was in sight. After Robin had parked his bike behind a tree, Wally went left, while Dick and Reese went right.

As the two of them ran down the hallways of Dick's school, Reese suddenly skidded to a stop, and Robin ran into her.

"What is it?" he whispered, and Reese felt his breath brush against her ear.

"Shh," she said quickly, waving a hand and ignoring the way her face suddenly flushed. "Do you hear that?" Dick paused for a moment before he glanced down at her again.

"The crashes and groans of pain that sounds like a clone with anger-management issues going up against an android that almost beat the _entire_ Justice League?"

Reese nodded. "Yep,"

Sticking their heads around a corner, the two birds caught sight of the Academy's gymnasium, in time to see the android looking down on Superboy, fist poised above him in a kill-strike.

But, before the android was able to hit him, KF sped Superboy out of the way, just as Robin and Silverbird slipped silently into the room.

Dick aimed with his birdarangs, and Reese nocked an arrow, but the android began to speak in a mechanical voice, much like Red Tornado's.

" _Access **Martian Manhunter** ,_" he suddenly turned transparent, and the birdarang and arrow exploded against the wall behind him. " _Access **Red Tornado** ,_"

"Uh oh," Reese muttered as a small vortex appeared beneath the android, propelling the humanoid forward. It sent all of them flying in different directions, and Reese was flown backward, her back slamming into the wall.

" _Access **Black Canary** ,_"

Before she could be deafened by the sonic scream, Silverbird countered it with one of her own, and the two soundwaves collided in a burst of noise that caused everyone in the room to clap their hands over their ears.

Ducking down, Reese rolled out of the way, shooting an arrow at the same time as she landed next to Wally, but the android density-shifted again, using J'onn's own martian abilities to dodge the arrow.

" _Access **Captain Atom** ,_" KF sped her out of the way as twin bolts of yellow energy landed where they had been a second before.

Then, Reese split from the speedster half-way, vaulting off the side of the bleachers to land on top of the android's shoulders, locking her legs around its neck as she tried to get to the wires inside the android's head. If she were able to somehow disconnect the android's power source, _maybe_ they'd have a chance at beating him.

_Yeah_ , uh, that didn't go too well. The android suddenly reached behind and grabbed Reese, lifting her up and throwing her off it with the force of an angry Superboy.

Before she could slam into the floor, Reese thudded into something a whole lot softer. For a moment, all she could do was blink, before she glanced down, and Silverbird found herself staring into Robin's mask lenses, Dick Grayson's blue ocean eyes just behind.

"Hey," he said softly, hands on her waist. "You okay?"

Before Reese was able to answer, she heard a sharp ' _twang_ ', like when she shot her bow. She rolled both of them to the side before an arrow hit the floor, _inches_ from where they'd been a second earlier.

The weird thing was, it _wasn't_ one of hers. Someone _else_ had shot that arrow, and it hadn't been Reese. The brunette snapped her head up to look at the rafters, where the arrow had come from, but even with her exemplary night-vision, Reese wasn't able to see anyone.

That was also when she realized that Dick was still holding her. But, before she could say anything on it, a loud crash jerked them both back to reality, as Superboy was thrown into the bleachers, cracking them.

" _Access **Superman** ,_" the android's eyes began to glow red, and Reese's own eyes widened. Dick grabbed her, shielding Reese with his cape, though the brunette didn't think it would do much good.

Even as strong as the material that Robin's cape was made of was, it would still be no match for the sheer power of Kryptonian heat-vision. But, before they were both burnt to a crisp, something hurtled into them, and Dick and Reese were both thrown to the side. Reese glanced to the side to see Kid Flash laying dazed beside her and Dick.

Then, she heard Superboy's voice.

"It makes me _angry_!" the clone was shouting, and Silverbird wearily lifted her head off of Robin's chest to see that Superboy had jumped on top of Professor Ivo. "Wanna see me _channel_ that anger?"

"Great," Wally groaned, flopping back down onto the ground. "He's gone ballistic again,"

"Maybe not," Dick countered, and Reese had to agree with him. This time, Superboy's punches looked less erratic than earlier, back at the cave, when they'd been sparring.

Maybe he was finally taking Dinah's advice.

"Amazo!" Ivo squeaked out. "Protect your master! Priority Alpha!" Amazo (Reese assumed that was the android) blasted again at Superboy, as the old professor tried to sneak away.

But, when Silverbird stepped out of the shadows, he screamed again, and Reese was decidedly _not_ impressed.

"Why you leaving, Professor?" she asked innocently, tilting her head to the side. "The party's just getting started," Two of Ivo's robot monkey's grabbed onto his shoulders, lifting the old man up to hover in the air, just before Robin kicked him out from between them.

"Anyone wanna play keep-away?" he cackled, and Kid Flash excitedly raised a hand.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Me! Me!"

" _ **Superman**_ _,_ " Amazo stomped on the floor, and a shockwave rolled out, causing Wally to trip as he ran towards the android's creator. Reese shot her arrow towards Amazo at the same time that Dick threw a birdarang. " _ **Martian Manhunter** ,_" The density-shifting was beginning to get _very_ annoying, Reese realized, as once again, the projectiles did no damage.

That was until Superboy punched a hole in Amazo's head, of course.

" _ **Superman** ,_" the android's head exploded, and the decapitated body fell to the ground with a metallic ' _clang_ '.

"Help me disassemble him!" Robin shouted over his shoulder. "Now!"

"Hold your horses, Boy Wonder," Reese called back, going down the bleachers' stairs as fast as she could. "I'm not a speedster, you know?"

"Dude," Wally spoke up, holding his shoulder. "The guy has no head,"

"We can't take any chances," Reese added, just as Aqualad and Miss Martian _finally_ ran in.

"Superboy!" M'gann exclaimed worriedly. "Are you all right?" She helped him stand, and the clone turned to Robin, smiling.

"Fine," he answered. "Feeling the aster,"

"Hey!" Wally shouted suddenly, and everyone turned to look at him. "Where's Ivo?"

Glancing around, Reese realized that he was right. The Professor, along with his robo-monkeys, was gone.

_Crap._

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
August 4, 01:06 EDT**

"The Amazo android is in pieces again," Batman said once they were all back in the cave again. It was just past one in the morning, but Reese was exhausted. She was practically falling asleep on her feet. "Safely being analyzed at the two _separate_ STAR Labs. But, Ivo escaped, and since he originated the tech, he's arguably more dangerous than the android,"

"Capturing the professor will be a League priority," Black Canary added, noticing the way her protegee tried to stifle a yawn.

"But," Martian Manhunter spoke up. "We understand your mission encountered... _other_ complications," Everyone turned to stare at Superboy, but he only averted his eyes to the ground.

"Complications come with the job," Batman said calmly, walking forward. "Your ability to handle them has impressed the league,"

"The _whole_ league?" Superboy asked, looking hopeful.

"Given time... _yes_. Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads,"

"Of course, there's no shame in asking for help. That's why the League exists. Because there are some problems even _we_ can't handle individually,"

"Please," Robin scoffed, more than a little annoyed. "If we needed help, we'd never get the chance to ask," he held out the mystery arrow from earlier. "Look familiar? You were following us! Babysitting! You still don't trust us!"

"We didn't follow you," Batman said simply, inspecting the arrow as Green Arrow took out one of his own. Oliver's arrow tip was jagged, while the mystery one was more generic in shape, the edges smooth, rather than serrated.

"And _that's_ not your arrow," Dick realized, and Wally glanced towards a dozing Reese.

"You think it could be Silverbird's?" he asked, but the brunette only waved a hand dismissively.

"It's not mine, not Roy's, his arrows are red, so whose are they?" for a moment, everyone was silent, Bruce and Ollie sharing a look, before Reese's head snapped up again. "A ghost! We're being haunted by Robin Hood!"

For all of five seconds, everyone stared at the twelve-year-old archer, before Oliver turned to stare at Dick.

"How many hours of sleep is she running on?" he asked, but all Robin could do was shrug.

"She napped a bit earlier, but I'm not entirely sure," Again, Green Arrow and Batman exchanged a glance, before the Emerald Archer turned back to Robin.

"And how late exactly did you guys stay up when she called you the night before we first fought Amazo?"

At that, Dick stared down at the floor of the cave, scuffing the toe of his boot against the stone. Apparently, that also gave Ollie all the answer he needed, because he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Reese, how many hours of sleep have you had in the past two days?" he asked, and the brunette smiled.

"Eight!" she said simply...while holding up four fingers. That didn't seem to help Oliver's mood any, because Dick was able to see a muscle in his jaw tick.

Oh, he was _so_ screwed.

In his defense, Gotham was a full three hours _ahead_ of Star City, so Dick figured _he_ should probably be the one acting loopy right now, but maybe all the late night-early morning patrols with Batman made him immune to insomnia. Or it was the other way around, Dick wasn't entirely sure.

Either way, it didn't stop Dick from thinking that his best friend was undeniably cute when she was tired. She kind of reminded the Boy Wonder of a teddy bear, and... _wait._

Oh, yeah, he was _definitely_ screwed.


	10. 8. Infiltrator

**G O T H A M C I T Y  
August 8, 01:18 EDT**

Dick Grayson perused the halls of Wayne Manor, not entirely sure why Batman had given him the night off, but he certainly wasn't complaining. Sitting down on a couch in one of the living rooms of the Manor (because there were at least three), Dick grabbed a remote and flipped on the TV.

He was bored. Despite the quietness of the house at this moment, there wasn't _really_ anything to do. Dick had already exhausted himself on the gymnastics rings, and now he wanted to work off some steam.

Well, it _was_ also one in the morning, but for now, Dick ignored that little detail.

But, before the thirteen-year-old Boy Wonder was able to fully relax, there was a knock on the door. The _front_ door. Alfred, who had just walked in the room for something or another, glanced over at the young ward of Bruce Wayne, who looked just as confused as he was.

_Who would be visiting them at this hour?_

Dick popped his head up from the couch and made his way over to the entrance of the house after Alfred had already arrived. As he paused in a nearby doorway, Dick was able to hear Alfred's voice, sounding decidedly shocked. Dick realized why at his next words.

"Miss Reese, what on Earth are you doing here?"

Poking his head around the doorjamb, Dick's eyes widened as he saw Reese, dressed in leggings and a long t-shirt, holding a small overnight bag, standing on the front stoop of Wayne Manor, long hair framing her face.

"Hey, Alfred," she answered quietly, before averting her eyes down to her feet, which were clad in nothing more than small ballet flats. "Is Dick here?"

"I should hope so," Alfred retorted, looking worried as he took in the harried state of the small girl in front of him. "It _is_ his home after all,"

"Pretty bird," Dick began, stepping out from his hiding spot. "What happened?"

To his increasing shock, Reese suddenly burst into tears, bypassing Alfred without a second glance to wrap her arms around Dick, who returned the embrace without a second thought.

Reese buried her head in his shoulder, and if this were any other situation, Dick's face would be as red as Wally's hair.

"Rhysalin," he whispered, slowly rubbing his hand up and down Reese's back. "What's wrong?"

"It's Ollie," she mumbled into his shoulder. "He's _r-replacing_ me,"

" _What?_ What are you talking about?" Quickly exchanging a startled glance with Alfred, Dick led Reese into the living room, where he had been mere moments before, and gently made Reese sit down onto the couch before he knelt in front of her. After a moment, the brunette continued.

"The arrow from when we fought Amazo, the one that wasn't mine? It belongs to this girl, Artemis, I think she's Wally's age. Ollie introduced us to each other tonight, introduced her to me as his niece," Reese's head shot up, and her brown eyes were rimmed with red as tears streamed down her face. "Boy Wonder, he lied to my _face_. Thea doesn't even _have_ kids! A-And now he's saying Artemis is going to be his _new_ protegee! Dick, what am I supposed to do?"

"Hey," he began, sitting down on the couch beside Reese and laying an arm across her shoulders, bringing the girl closer to him. "Pretty bird, I'm sure Ollie's not going to replace you. Plus, it's not like he hasn't had more than one protege at the same time before. I mean, look at you and Speedy,"

"That's different," Reese countered, still sniffling as she tightened her grip around his waist. "With Roy, we _knew_ that we were both going to be working together with Green Arrow. Ollie didn't even _talk_ to me about Artemis. A-And now Roy's gone, and Green Arrow has a new protege, and everyone's just _leaving me_! All over again. Dick, I don't _want_ to lose my family. Not again,"

"You won't," he said firmly, glancing down at Reese for a moment. "Rhysalin, Oliver loves you like you're his own daughter. Roy's your brother, whether you two are related by blood or not. Every family has their troubles, it doesn't mean that you'll fall apart,"

"Don't leave me, Boy Wonder," Reese whispered, and her voice was so quiet Dick had to strain to hear it. "Please?"

"I won't," he told her, being completely and utterly honest. "I promise, Rhysalin Blaire Michaels-Queen, I will _always_ be by your side,"

"Thanks, Dick," she said quietly, and Dick softly smiled.

Before he could say anything though, there was a soft knock at the living room's door, before Alfred walked in, holding a phone in his hand.

"Master Dick," the butler began. "Oliver Queen is on the line. He wants to ask if you know where his daughter is,"

Dick glanced down at the girl who was sitting next to him, only to realize that Reese had fallen asleep, her arms wrapped loosely around his waist as she tucked her head into the crook of his neck.

With his free hand, Dick took the phone as Alfred handed it to him, holding the receiver up to his ear.

"Hello?" Almost before he had finished, Oliver's voice came through, sounding more than a bit frantic.

" _Dick? Oh, thank god. Is Reese there? She ran off tonight, and Gotham was the only place I thought she would go since she doesn't know where Roy is. Please, Dick, I need to know she's okay,_ "

Dick knew that Ollie was sorry. He sounded apologetic enough, and Dick also knew that if he didn't say anything now, it was more than likely that Green Arrow would come to Gotham himself.

That didn't mean that he hadn't also crossed a line.

" _Dick?"_ Ollie spoke up again. " _Is Reese there? Is she okay_?"

"Goodnight, Mr. Queen," Dick finally spoke into the phone receiver.

Then, he hung up.

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
** **August 8, 09:58 EDT**

Later, though she was still far from her usual cheery self, Reese's mood _had_ improved. It seems they had both fallen asleep on the couch in Wayne Manor's living room last night, because when Dick had woken up, it was to both Alfred _and_ Bruce standing over him and Reese, saying it was time for breakfast.

Now, the two of them, plus Kaldur, Superboy, and M'gann were all outside Mount Justice, having a beach day. The weather was beautiful out, but even Dick could see that Reese wasn't really in a good mood. He didn't blame her.

M'gann, on the other hand, was more than a little bit perky.

" _Hello,_ Megan!" she exclaimed, pointing towards the ocean. "We should hit the beach every day!"

"First," Dick began, placing his fingers against his shades in a tone of over-exaggerated sadness. "A moment of silence for our... _absent_ comrade,"

"Poor Wally," M'gann murmured, looking down.

The teenage speedster started school today, but Dick couldn't help but wonder: _Who in their right mind put the first day of school at the beginning of August?_ That was literally a whole _month_ of summer, wasted just like that.

Pity, really, but Dick was glad it wasn't him.

As the other three ran towards the water, eager to have fun, Robin walked over to where Reese had plopped down on the warm sand, wrapping her arms around her legs. She was dressed in a simple black-and-blue one-piece swimsuit, and her hair was up in a sleek high ponytail, with only a few chocolate-colored strands framing her face. Over Reese's eyes was a pair of oversized sunglasses. Not for identity protection, but so no one else would see the way her eyes were still red and puffy from earlier.

"You're obviously not feeling the aster," Dick spoke up as he sat down beside her, but all Reese did was shrug.

"Not much to be feeling the aster about," she retorted, and Dick sighed.

"Come on, pretty bird," he said after a few seconds of silence, standing up again and grabbing Reese's hands in both of his, pulling her to her feet. "You keep saying you're really just a plant with more complicated emotions, so why don't you just soak up some sun?"

"I will," Reese said, sitting back down on the sand and dragging Dick with her. "Right here. You go and have fun, I'll be fine,"

Instead of doing so, Dick refrained, sitting down again next to the brunette again. "I'm good where I am," he said, and for a few seconds, both birds watched as Kaldur, M'gann, and Superboy played around in the ocean.

"Dick, why are you friends with me?" the question was abrupt, and it made Dick glance over, but Reese only stared out at the water, avoiding his eyes.

"What kind of question is that?" he asked, and Reese shrugged.

"I dunno," she answered. "Just curious, I guess,"

"Well," he began after a few seconds of contemplation. "Why is anybody friends? I've known you most of my life, and I can't _really_ see my life without you,"

A life without Reese in it wasn't a life that Dick wanted to live.

"I can't see my life without you either, Boy Wonder," Reese said quietly, and Dick felt himself smile. After a moment, Reese glanced over at him. "Are you _sure_ you don't want to join the others?"

Dick shrugged. "I'll join them when you do," he answered simply, and Reese stared at him before she looked down at her feet again.

"Thank you," she said softly, and Dick glanced over.

"For what?" he asked, and Reese shrugged.

"For last night. I didn't know where else to go. I don't know where Roy is staying. All I could think of was you,"

"It's no problem," Dick answered, even though his ears had turned beet-red. "You know you're always welcome at the Manor. Alfred loves you, by the way, and I doubt Bruce would object to it,"

Before Reese could say anything in response, other than looking down at her toes again, her face faintly pink, M'gann's voice came from out in the water.

"Hey, Reese, Robin!" she exclaimed, causing both birds to turn towards the others, who were staring expectantly at them. "You two coming?" Dick glanced over at Reese, only to find the brunette already turned his way.

"Well, Boy Wonder?" Reese asked, grinning as she climbed to her feet. "Shall we?"

"But of course," Dick popped up beside her, bending at the waist in a grand bow as he gently kissed Reese's knuckles, oblivious to the way her face turned as red as a tomato. "My lady,"

"So suave," Reese spoke sarcastically, but she was grinning, so Dick knew it was all in good fun. "What are you? Some sort of Prince Charming?"

"I much prefer the term _knight_ instead," Dick retorted as they walked towards the surf. "Princes are overrated anyway. Knights get to do all the fun stuff, like saving princesses. _Princes_ just sit around all day doing paperwork,"

"Very well, Sir Robin," Reese straightened up, her voice taking on a mock-British accent. "Escort this fair princess to the crashing waves, so that she may delight in a little bit of, as you commoners call it, the _fun_ ,"

"And the fun it shall be, milady," Dick retorted, putting on the same accent as he crooked his elbow, allowing Reese to slip her hand through. "First, we will swim, and then _,_ oh, _then_ we get to the fun stuff. The volleyball playing and the hot dog eating and all the other activities that the royalty doesn't get to experience in their big drafty castles. Here, Princess, here you learn what fun _really_ is,"

And true to his word, Dick showed Reese how to have a good time, regardless if she had known how to before or not.

Within thirty minutes of the two of them finally joining Kaldur, M'gann, and Superboy in the water, the twelve-year-old girl was almost back to her usual self. There was still a bit of underlying sadness, but Dick figured that was to be expected, given the scenario of why she was upset in the first place.

Reese had to admit, she _was_ feeling better. She wasn't entirely back to normal, but it wasn't as bad as it had been. And Dick helped with that immensely. So, what Reese did was push the events from last night, up until she had shown up at Wayne Manor in Gotham City, to the very back corner of her mind, and she had fun.

After an hour or two, Reese went back to shore, laying on her beach towel and lacing her fingers behind her head.

The summer sun was beating down on them, but it wasn't unbearable, more like a nice blanket. The warmth began to make her drowsy, and Reese took off her sunglasses, setting them on the sand beside her towel as she closed her eyes.

A few minutes later though, just as she was beginning to fall asleep, Reese heard the slightest shift in movement over the sand and she cracked one eye open, in time to see Dick toss an entire bucket full of water on top of her head.

The brunette shot up into a sitting position, spluttering as she spat saltwater out of her mouth as Dick bent over, laughing so hard she thought he'd collapse or something.

" _Robin_!" she shouted, using his alias purely because Superboy and Kaldur were a few feet away, setting up the net for a game of volleyball.

Dick just cackled some more. "You said earlier that you were just a plant with emotions, pretty bird," he claimed. "All plants need water, don't they?"

"A cactus doesn't," Reese retorted as she climbed to her feet, shaking her hair out so it would dry faster.

"You saying you're prickly, Rhysalin Blaire?" Dick retorted, but Reese only stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'm _saying_ I don't want an entire bucket of ocean dumped on top of my head," she crossed her arms over her chest. "Now, why don't you go and play volleyball with Kaldur, Superboy, and M'gann. I'llref,"

Dick's face turned inquisitive before he walked over to where the others were waiting. After a moment, Reese followed, and she stood on the sidelines of their makeshift court, keeping score.

While they played, Reese set up the small grill, and after an hour or so, they all ate hot dogs and messed around.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, everyone flopped down on the sand, and this time, Reese _actually_ fell asleep, rather than dozing before Dick threw a bucket of water on her.

At one point, she was still half-awake and coherent enough to be able to hear M'gann and Dick snickering, and when Reese cracked an eye open she saw the two gathering sand into buckets as Kaldur looked on, amused.

Reese wasn't sure what happened after that, because she really _did_ fall asleep, the August sunshine beating down on her. She didn't know how long she napped, but, after a while, Reese felt someone shaking her shoulder.

Blinking her eyes open, the brunette was met with Dick crouching next to her, and surprisingly, his sunglasses were off, showcasing his blue eyes. When Reese glanced around though, she realized it was because Superboy, M'gann, and Kaldur were at the other end of the beach.

"Come on, pretty bird," he began, looking suddenly sympathetic. "They're on their way,"

"I don't want to," Reese grumbled, her good mood abruptly dying as she rolled over on her beach towel, her back facing the thirteen-year-old. "Tell Ollie I'm sick,"

"Rhysalin, you know I can't do that," Dick's voice was soft, and he set a hand on her arm. "Oliver's mad enough at me as it is,"

"Why?" Reese asked, suddenly confused. Dick's face turned red, and he sat back, balancing on the balls of his feet.

"Uh, he called last night," he began. "Wondering where you were, and uh, I might have...hung up on him,"

For a moment, all Reese did was blink. Dick had _hung up_ on Ollie when he called? _Seriously_?

"Boy Wonder, why would you do that?" she asked finally, genuinely confused, but all Dick did was shrug.

"He upset you," Robin answered simply. "Green Arrow agitated you so much you literally traveled _across the country_ to Gotham City. All because of a new protege who he _really_ should've talked to you about before introducing the two of you,"

"So, you decided to hang up on him?" Reese questioned, tilting her head to the side. "Why exactly? Dick, he's going to be _so_ mad at you for that,"

"Pretty bird," Dick began, ducking his head down, and Reese noticed his ears turn pink. "You're more important to me than getting a lecture from Oliver Queen. Once you get chewed out by the Batman, everyone else pales in comparison,"

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Reese asked, her face flushing, and Robin grinned.

"Definitely," he answered, before grabbing her hands again and pulling Reese to her feet. "Stay whelmed, pretty bird. Your knight in blinding traffic light colors is here,"

"You don't _wear_ traffic light colors, Boy Wonder," Reese retorted. "If you remember correctly, black is _not_ a traffic light color,"

"Just let me have my moment, Rhysalin," Dick shot back, scowling good-naturedly. "Please?"

"Fine," Reese sighed a bit, before glancing down at her feet again. "I don't want to face him though, Dick," she whispered, and Robin didn't need to be friends with a telepath to know who she was talking about. "I mean, I _ran away_. He's bound to be angry with me,"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, pretty bird," Dick said firmly. "For now, let's worry about whether or not Wally's going to fully embarrass himself when he comes into the cave after he's done with school, alright?"

"Why are you asking me?" Reese asked, tilting her head to the side. "We both know Wally's not going to get here in time. His embarrassment is inevitable,"

"I'm just trying to cheer you up, Rhysalin," Dick said quietly. "Is it working?"

After a moment, Reese shrugged. "A bit," she answered reluctantly, before staring up at Robin. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble with Oliver though. It was never my intention,"

Dick straightened up, turning his eyes up to the sky and chuckling again.

"It's really not a big deal, pretty bird," he told her. "I'm serious. If you're ever in trouble, whether it's with Roy, or Ollie being stupid, or whatever, I will _always_ be your knight to come and save the day. Promise,"

Reese felt more than a bit apprehensive, but it was only a little while until Green Arrow and Artemis were due to arrive at the mountain, so Ollie could introduce his _new_ protege to the rest of the Team.

She could be strong. She _had_ to be strong.

"You sure you can do this?" Dick asked softly, setting a hand on her shoulder, and Reese sighed.

"Do I have a _choice_?"

Another exclamation from where M'gann, Kaldur, and Superboy were standing over by the entrance back into the cave stopped Dick from answering, but he didn't need to. Reese knew what he was going to say.

"I'm sorry, pretty bird," Robin said, his voice still quiet. "If there was anything I could do..."

"You've done plenty, Boy Wonder," Reese cut him off, getting to her feet and rolling up her beach towel. "Let's just get inside before they get here, and I might be able to give myself a mini pep-talk,"

Dick still looked increasingly reluctant, but there _really_ wasn't anything he could do, so instead, all Robin did was sigh heavily before he stood up again, grabbing Reese's sunglasses from where they were sitting on the ground, and placing them over her face.

"There," he said quietly, both of them gazing at each other for a moment. "Perfect,"

➳➳➳

Later, the five of them, Dick, Kaldur, M'gann, Reese, and Superboy, were all dressed in their various "super suits", waiting in the main area of the cave with Red Tornado and Batman, waiting for Green Arrow and Artemis to show up.

Then, the Zeta tube turned on.

**_Recognized Green Arrow 0-8, Artemis B-0-8_ **

As the two appeared from within the golden glow of the Zeta, Silverbird heaved a shuddering breath, trying to calm her racing heart as her adoptive father and his "niece" walked closer.

Undoubtedly, Superboy was able to hear how fast her heart was beating, but Reese was grateful he didn't say anything about it.

Silverbird felt a gloved hand slip into hers, and she grabbed onto Robin's hand like it was a lifeline, almost seeming to curl into herself when Oliver turned his masked eyes to stare at her and Dick.

"Who is this?" Aqualad asked calmly, walking forward, and Green Arrow set a hand on Artemis's shoulder.

"Artemis," the blonde said firmly, reaching out and giving Kaldur's hand a firm shake. "I'm Green Arrow's _new_ protege,"

If Aqualad was surprised by the teenage girl's wording, he gave no reaction to it. Instead, he only became more courteous, giving a solid nod before turning to the rest of the Team.

"Well," the Atlantean began, gesturing to each of them in turn. "I am Aqualad, the Team's leader. This is Miss Martian, Superboy, Robin, and Silverbird,"

" _We've met_ ," the two female archers said in unison, both of their voices more than a little bit chilly. From the corner of her eye, Reese saw Oliver wince, but before she could say anything, the Zeta tube turned on again.

**_Recognized Kid Flash B-0-4_ **

"The _Wall-man_ ," Wally began, decked out in full beach gear, plus a bunch of accessories. "is here! Now, let's get this party start--" as he was running, KF suddenly tripped over his umbrella, falling to the floor and losing grip of his beach ball, which bounced right between Batman and Red Tornado.

Bruce didn't even flinch.

"--ted?" the speedster finished sheepishly, and Artemis snickered.

" _Wall-man_ , huh?" she asked rhetorically. " _Love_ the uniform. _What_ exactly are your powers?"

"Uh, who's this?" Wally questioned, walking forward and gesturing vaguely towards Artemis, who only cocked a hip.

"Artemis," she introduced herself. "Your new teammate,"

"Kid Flash," Wally retorted. "Never heard of you,"

Finally, Green Arrow spoke up, walking forward and setting a hand on Artemis's shoulder as he blatantly ignored the gazes of both Robin _and_ Silverbird. "Uh, she's my new protegee," the Emerald Archer continued, and Wally flicked his eyes over to where Silverbird and Robin were standing before he turned back to Green Arrow.

"What happened to your old ones?" he asked, before, once again, the Zeta tube turned on, only this time it brought with it a person that Reese had been missing _desperately_ , ever since the Fourth of July.

Her brother.

**_Recognized Speedy B-0-7_ **

"Well, for starters," the redhead began as everyone stared at him in shock. "He doesn't go by _Speedy_ anymore. Call me Red Arrow,"

Before anyone could blink, and almost as fast as Wally, Reese took a daring leap, shooting across the training circle and throwing her arms around Roy's waist, squeezing him almost as hard as she could.

Despite his callous disposition most of the time, one of Roy's only soft spots was for his surrogate baby sister, so, almost without a second thought, Speedy-- _Red Arrow--_ returned Silverbird's hug.

Reese heaved a shuddering breath as she buried her face in Roy's stomach, her hood falling down around her shoulders as she felt tears gather in the corners of her eyes.

After a moment, she stepped back, wiping her eyes, and stood next to Red Arrow as he suddenly faced off against his former mentor, and Reese's adoptive father, as the Emerald Archer stepped forward, looking a bit _shocked_ , for lack of a better word.

"Roy..." Ollie began. "You look--"

"Replaceable," Red Arrow cut him off.

"It's not like that," Green Arrow claimed, walking forward again. "You told me you were going solo. And Silverbird--"

"--was perfectly fine!" Reese exclaimed, speaking for the first time since they had all been introduced. "The only thing I'm mad about is the fact that you didn't even _talk_ to me before you introduced me and Artemis last night! Now I know how Roy felt at the Hall of Justice,"

"Why'd you waste time finding a sub?" Red Arrow spoke up again, jerking his head towards Artemis. "Can she even _use_ that bow?"

"Yes," the blonde answered, walking forward until she and Roy were almost nose-to-nose. " _She_ can,"

" _Who_ areyou?" Wally asked as Reese went to stand between him and Robin again, and Ollie and Artemis answered in unison.

"I'm his niece,"

"She's my niece,"

"Did you know about this?" Wally turned his head towards Reese, but the brunette only stared at the ground, giving a miserable little shrug. The redhead then turned to Robin, but the Boy Wonder just gave a minute shake of his head.

Now wasn't the time to talk about it.

"She is _not_ your replacement," Aqualad spoke up, glancing between Red Arrow and Silverbird. "For either of you. We have always wanted you on the Team," he continued, walking towards Roy again. "And we obviously have no quota on archers,"

"And if we did, you _know_ who we'd pick," Wally added, but Artemis only scoffed.

"Whatever, _Baywatch_ , I'm here to stay," Reese crossed her arms over her chest.

"And ain't that just the _peachiest_?" she muttered and ignored Green Arrow's consecutive glare.

Red Arrow went to walk away, but Kaldur stopped him.

"You came to us for a reason," the Atlantean spoke calmly.

"Yeah," Roy answered, almost reluctantly. "A reason named Dr. Serling Roquette," Beside Reese, Robin's eyes suddenly widened, before he pulled up his holo-glove.

"Nano-robotics genius and claytronics expert at Royal University in Star City!" he explained as information about Roquette showed up on the cave's main holo-screens. " _Vanished_ two weeks ago,"

"Abducted two weeks ago," Roy corrected him. "By the League of Shadows,"

"Whoa," Robin gasped out, almost in awe. "You want us to rescue her from the Shadows?"

"Hardcore," Wally agreed, sharing a fistbump with the Boy Wonder before Red Arrow cut them both off.

"I already rescued her," he said simply. "Only _one_ problem. The Shadows had already coerced her into creating a weapon. Doc calls it the _F.O.G.,_ comprised of millions of microscopic robots. Nanotech _infiltrators_ capable of disintegrating anything in their path. Concrete, steel, flesh, bone..." At the last two, Reese felt herself give an involuntary shudder but looked up again as Roy continued his explanation.

"But, its true purpose isn't mere destruction, it's theft. The infiltrators eat and store raw data from any computer system. And _deliver_ the stolen intel to the Shadows, providing them access to weapons, strategic defense, cutting-edge science, and tech--"

"Perfect for extortion, manipulation, power-broking," Artemis cut in, staring up at the holo-screens. "Yeah, _sounds_ like the Shadows,"

"Like you know _anything_ about the Shadows," Wally retorted, looking smug, but when Artemis just smirked at him, the speedster finally lost it.

" _Who are you_?"

After a moment, Red Arrow continued with his explanation about the F.O.G., and about who created it. "Roquette's working on a virus to render the F.O.G. inert," Robin's eyes suddenly widened, and he exchanged a glance with Reese before they both turned to the older redhead.

"If the Shadows know she can do that--" the Boy Wonder began, and Roy cut him off.

"They'll target her," he continued, before pulling up another holo-screen. "Right now, she's off-the-grid. I stashed her at the local high school's computer lab,"

"You left her _alone_?" Green Arrow burst out, but Roy didn't flinch.

"She's safe enough for now," Red Arrow retorted.

"Then, you, Silverbird, and I can keep her that way," Ollie continued, eyes glancing over his shoulder at Reese, in her spot still next to Robin, before he turned to Roy again, who only glared at him.

"The three of us?" the redhead echoed, tilting his head. "Reese looks fine where she is. Don't you want to take your _new_ protege?" Oliver looked like he was about to say something in response, but Batman stopped him by setting a hand on the blond man's shoulder. After a moment, Oliver spoke again.

"You brought this to the Team," he began. "It's _their_ mission. Which means it's _hers_ now too,"

"Then my job's done," Roy retorted, walking towards the Zeta tube again.

But, before he walked into the transporter, Red Arrow stopped in front of Silverbird and Robin, reaching out to the former and slipping a piece of paper into her small hand, before he turned away.

**_Recognized Speedy--_ **

"That's _Red Arrow_ ," Roy interrupted. "B-zero-seven. Update,"

As soon as he was gone, and almost in unison, Wally and Reese both turned to glare at Artemis, who just turned away from both of them. Glancing down then at the paper that was in her hand, Reese's eyes widened as she realized what it was.

An _address._

**H A P P Y H A R B O R  
August 8, 21:53 EDT**

Inside the computer lab of Happy Harbor High School, Silverbird perched herself on the counter beside Robin, ignoring every time that Ollie's _new protege_ turned to look at her.

' _Everyone online?'_ M'gann's voice suddenly appeared in Reese's head, and she set her chin on her knees as Artemis got used to the sensation of a telepathic link.

' _Oh,_ ' the blonde archer began. ' _This is weird,_ '

' _And distracting_ ,' Roquette added, not missing a keystroke. ' _Coding a distributive algorithm virus on a kiddie computer with less RAM than a wristwatch is hard enough. Now I have to hear teen-think in my skull_?'

' _Lady_ ,' Wally began as he ate a protein bar. ' _Do you always complain when someone tries to help you_?'

' _Pot. Kettle,_ ' Artemis retorted. ' _Have you met_?'

' _Hey, hey, I do not need attitude from the newbie who drove Red Arrow off the team, and the one who made Silverbird travel across the country overnight_!'

' _That is so not on me_!' Artemis shot back, jumping off the desk and pointing a finger towards KF before her eyes turned to Silverbird, who hadn't looked up once during their conversation. ' _Maybe Little Miss Perfect over there should learn to not run away every time something doesn't go her way,_ '

' _You think I went to Gotham because things didn't 'go my way'?'_ Reese suddenly spoke up, glaring at Artemis, her voice ice-cold. ' _You have no idea what my life was like before Green and Red Arrow took me in. If you have everything figured out, maybe you should enlighten us as to why you think I wouldn't want to spend time with my best friend when my adoptive father was being an idiot, and introducing me to someone he just met, without a word of warning at all,_'

To that, it seemed, Artemis didn't have a response. She wasn't able to give one either, because Roquette suddenly cut in.

' _Fate--of the world--at stake_?'

' _She started it_!' Wally jerked his head towards Artemis, who only began to walk towards the door.

' _How about I just help Miss Martian and Superboy patrol the perimeter?'_

' _Good idea,_ ' Aqualad said coolly. As soon as Artemis was gone, Robin sighed, before turning to glance at Wally.

' _You might cut her some slack. It was her arrow that saved your butt against Amazo_,' the Boy Wonder began cautiously, not for Wally's sake, but for Reese's.

Dick had seen first-hand how getting introduced to Artemis had worn down on her self-confidence, so he was going to try his best not to make Reese feel any worse than she already did.

Wally, it seemed, wasn't as convinced.

' _What_?' he asked, eyes wide. ' _No, that was Speedy's--Red Arrow's--arrow, right_? _And if not his, then it had to Silverbird's,_ '

' _Not quite_ ,' Reese spoke up, sounding more than a little bit dejected. ' _I already told you, Wally, it couldn't have been Roy's arrow, or mine, because neither of us uses green arrows. It either had to be Green Arrow's himself...or someone else's,_'

' _Well,_ ' Wally grumbled. ' _I'm still not giving her the satisfaction_ ,'

' _You know I can still hear you_?' Artemis's voice sounded sharp, and this time, Kid Flash groaned out loud, clamping both hands on the sides of his head.

Meanwhile, Roquette still didn't seem pleased that her best line of defense was a group of teenagers, three of which were currently at each other's throats. ' _I couldn't get the Justice League_ ,' she grumbled, but Reese just tuned her out.

It was bad enough that Artemis was officially joining the Team. Now, it almost seemed like the blonde archer was trying to force her way into Reese's life.

It wasn't that the brunette hated change, in fact, she was quite tolerant of the concept, but this was different. Artemis was affecting her _family_ , her _friends_. Reese had no idea who Artemis really was, but she sure as hell knew she _wasn't_ Green Arrow's niece. If she was, then Oliver surely would've introduced them before last night.

So, who _was_ she?

Before Reese could think about the idea any further, Kaldur's voice filtered through the mental link.

' _The virus won't be of much use if we cannot find the weapon. Can you track it_?' Roquette, if Silverbird was being completely honest, looked like she wanted to hit him.

' _My utility F.O.G. is not a weapon. It's science. Brilliant science. Of course, I can track it. But, I'll have to go online. Might as well rent a billboard with this address and 'ASSASSINATE ME' in neon,_' Reese hopped off her spot on the counter beside Robin, walking up beside Roquette and setting a hand on the doctor's shoulder.

' _It may not seem like it,_ ' the brunette began, her voice soft through the mind link. ' _But, we will protect you. I swear it,_'

Roquette gave a small, half-smile before she spoke again. ' _Tracking F.O.G. now,_ '

As the blonde doctor worked, Artemis's voice came through the mind link again, only this time it was... _different_. And the context made Reese shudder.

' _Mmm, that boy_ ,' considering Robin, Kid Flash, _and_ Aqualad were all inside, that only left one person who could be the subject of Artemis's "affections". _Superboy._

Reese couldn't deny that the CADMUS clone was attractive, but he wasn't really her type. Not that she knew what her type _was_ , but what Reese did know was that Superboy wasn't it. Someone with fewer anger issues was her ideal.

' _He can hear you_!' M'gann shouted, sounding almost possessive. ' _We can all hear you,_'

' _Oh, I know,_ ' Artemis retorted, while back in the computer lab, Roquette finally managed to track down the location of her F.O.G., which placed it in Philadelphia.

' _Miss Martian_ ,' Kaldur cut in on the mental link next. ' _Dr. Roquette has located the F.O.G. Reconfigure the Bioship so Robin, Silverbird, and Superboy can pursue._ '

' _Oh, thank God_ ,' Silverbird spoke up, hopping off the counter again. She and Robin made it outside just as M'gann hovered the Bioship above the grass just outside the high school's fences.

' _Ready_ ,'

Once in the air, though she was still not entirely jazzed about flying again, Reese found herself calming down.

"Is Artemis the reason you were sad this morning?" Superboy's voice jerked the brunette from her thoughts, and she glanced over at him for a moment, before shrugging.

"Partly," she began. "The other part was Green Arrow not telling me he was bringing on a new protege,"

"But, you'll be okay? I mean, with Artemis on the Team?"

This time, Silverbird glanced towards the navigation console of the Bioship, where Robin was currently piloting the three of them towards Philly. Dick tilted his head to the side as if he too were anxiously awaiting her answer. Sighing heavily, Reese shrugged her shoulders.

"I will be," she said softly, and for the next several minutes, nobody said anything. Finally, they reached Philadelphia, and Robin tapped his comm, connecting him to Kaldur.

"Robin to Aqualad," he began, pulling up his holo-glove. "We're over Philadelphia. We've located the Shadows' next target. S.T.A.R Labs,"

"It's gone," Reese whispered, eyes wide as she watched the building crumble in front of the camouflaged Bioship. "We're too late,"

"It's destroyed," Dick agreed, eyes as big as saucers. "Totally destroyed. The F.O.G. decimated it. This is _bad._ S.T.A.R Labs is _cutting-edge_ science, and now their secrets are in the hands of the enemy. What's our next move?"

" _Rescan for the F.O.G.,_ " Aqualad answered, presumably talking to Dr. Roquette. " _Find it. We're moving the Doctor,_ " When Reese saw where the F.O.G was going next, her eyes widened again, and she jerked her head towards Robin.

"Uh, Boy Wonder--" she began as they flew towards the building, and she saw Dick's jaw clench.

"I see it," he answered. "The next target's a Wayne Tech facility. In theory, its systems' software could be used to hack the--"

"Robin!" Silverbird cried out. She knew that Batman and his partner prided themselves on keeping their secret identities hidden, which was a prime reason the rest of the Team, save for her and Kid Flash, didn't know the Boy Wonder's real identity.

"The what?" Superboy asked, looking genuinely confused.

"Doesn't matter," Robin cut him off quickly, stammering out an explanation. "W-What matters is that Wayne Tech operates a 24-hour workforce. We'll _never_ evacuate the building in time!"

"We have to _try_ ," Reese spoke up, the straps retreating back into the chair before she shot up from her seat, bow already in hand, as Silverbird ran towards the back of the Bioship.

The back door lowered, and a fast wind began to blow, making Reese's hair, despite it being tied up in a braid, fly in front of her face. Behind her, Robin had pulled up his holo-glove and gave an abrupt shout.

"It's downloading!" Silverbird quickly went to her friend's side, crouching down next to the Boy Wonder.

"Roquette's virus?" she clarified, and Dick gave a brief nod.

Suddenly, Superboy jumped from the edge of the Bioship, shouting over his shoulder, "Don't need it!"

" _Superboy_!" Reese and Dick cried in unison, just before the clone was hit by a burst of red energy, making him thud into the pavement of the parking lot.

With Superboy incapacitated, the Shadow, Professor Ojo, pressed a button on the canister within his van, before a dark gray cloud rose into the air, and Silverbird's breath caught in her throat when she realized what it was.

The F.O.G.

"No!" she heard Robin cry, a split second before Dick wrapped his arm around her waist and shooting his grapple with his free hand, making both of them fly through the air, eventually landing on the sidewalk in front of Wayne Tech.

The two ran inside, just past a security desk, and a security guard who was _none too pleased_ to see them.

"Hey!" the guard shouted as Robin and Silverbird ran past him. "You can't come in here!" then, the guard took a two-way radio from his desk, shouting into it as well. "Unauthorized entry!"

In front of them, a barred gate began to descend from the ceiling, and Reese prepared herself to Canary Cry, but instead, Robin played _his_ trump card.

"Wayne Tech Override: RG-04!" The gate stopped descending, and the two of them rolled underneath the bars.

The employees of Wayne Tech were running panicked through the halls as the F.O.G. began to eat its way through the data inside, the power beginning to go out in various places as well.

Reese and Dick did the best they could, directing frantic workers towards the nearest exit before Reese's eyes suddenly landed on the entrance to a small cafeteria.

Silverbird skidded to a stop, her boots leaving marks on the pristine floors (Bruce wasn't going to be happy about that), before Reese spun around, grabbing Robin's hand and dragging him after her.

Inside, they were both able to see the cloud of nano-tech infiltrators eating their way through the ceiling, along with a computer that the cashier, who looked like she was about to have a stroke, presumably used as a cash register, most of the time.

"What's going on?" the woman asked as Robin plugged his holo-glove into the hard drive of the computer. "What are you doing?"

"Please be linked to the mainframe," Dick ignored her, half mumbling to himself. "Please be linked to the mainframe,"

The cloud of nano-bots got closer, and despite her skepticism that it would do much help, Reese nocked an arrow, walking backward a few steps so she was further away from the F.O.G.

"Any day now, Boy Wonder," she muttered, just as the F.O.G. turned from a charcoal gray to a muted blood-red before it finally dissipated.

"Yes!" Dick exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air as Reese slumped against the counter, exhaling heavily. "The infiltrators have been outfiltrated!"

The two of them then made their way back outside, where they found Superboy standing with an unconscious Professor Ojo.

"Hey, Robin?" Reese spoke up as the three of them began to walk towards the Bioship again. After a moment, Dick glanced towards her.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Agent A and Batman would care if I stayed the night again? I swear I'll tell Green Arrow where I am this time!" she quickly added when Dick's eyes snapped over to gaze into hers.

Robin only shrugged. "I told you, pretty bird--" he began. "--they don't mind. Alf--uh, _Agent A_ , already thinks of you as part of the family, and I'm sure Batman would be able to talk down GA if he tried to hone in on ' _his turf_ ',"

"Alright," Silverbird gave a small smile. "Expect me around two,"

"In the _morning_?" the Boy Wonder cried out, causing Superboy to glance over his shoulder at them. "What will you be doing before then?"

Reese shrugged her shoulders once before she spoke again. "Meeting with Roy,"

**G O T H A M** **C I T Y  
August 9, 01:16 EDT**

Silverbird and Red Arrow were both waiting in the shadows, when the Gotham Zeta tube, which was hidden in an abandoned phone booth, suddenly lit up. Artemis stepped out, and Reese shifted her foot against the cracked pavement, intentionally alerting the blonde to their presence.

The other archer whipped around, and in one smooth move had an arrow pointed just to the right of where Silverbird and Red Arrow were standing.

"Step into the light," she growled. " _Now_ ,"

"Nice move," Roy complimented, walking forward, and after a moment, Reese followed. "Almost made us believe you _are_ Green Arrow's niece,"

Reese crossed her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes behind her domino mask. "But, the three of us all know you're _not_ ," she said coldly, and Artemis's eyes narrowed.

"Still," Red Arrow added. "I'm _sure_ GA and Bats have a _reason_ for lying. So, your cover's safe. But I warn you," Roy leaned forward, his mouth twisting into a scowl. "Do _not_ hurt my friends,"

With that, Red Arrow turned around, walking back into the shadows, but, Silverbird stayed, having a stare-down for a moment before the brunette finally spoke up.

"I don't know _who_ you think you are," Reese began. "But, I _will_ find out. Red Arrow's right. Despite his idiocy at times, Green Arrow never lies without a reason. For your sake, I hope it's a good one,"

Not giving Artemis a chance to respond, Silverbird brushed past her, stepping into the Zeta tube.

**_Recognized Silverbird B-0-3_ **

Now, it probably would've been easier to just go on foot to Wayne Manor, but that also would've taken too long. Needless to say, Reese wasn't all that surprised when she found Bruce Wayne, cowl down around his shoulders, sitting at the desk of the Batcomputer, typing in a report.

Before she had even said ' _hello_ ', the Dark Knight spoke.

"Dick's in his room,"

Reese opened her mouth, to say what, she wasn't entirely sure, but closed it again before any words could come out, nodding once before she walked into the locker room, where she always kept a stash of clothes for when she and Oliver were in Gotham.

Then, once she was dressed in a comfortable pair of green fuzzy socks, soft suede leggings with an arrow pattern crisscrossing over them, and a black sweatshirt, Reese climbed up the secret staircase that led up into the main part of Wayne Manor, moving the grandfather clock out of the way and slipping inside.

Climbing the grand staircase, the brunette paused in front of the door she knew opened into Dick's bedroom, raising her hand and rapping her knuckles against the thick oak for a few seconds before she stopped.

The door then swung open, revealing a bleary-eyed Dick Grayson, whose black hair had many a cowlick, sticking up at all angles, as if he had just woken up.

Reese suddenly felt guilty.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I didn't wake you, did I? I _knew_ I should have come earlier, but Roy said we had to wait, and then there was that whole confrontation thing, and I don't--"

"Pretty bird," Dick's voice abruptly cut off the brunette's ramblings, and she glanced up at him from where she had been fiddling with her fingers. " _Stop_. You didn't wake me, I was already up,"

"Oh," Reese said softly before Dick suddenly reached forward and grabbed her hand, yanking the twelve-year-old inside.

"So," the Boy Wonder began once they were both situated comfortably on the couch inside Dick's bedroom, sitting on the cushions and facing each other. "Why are you here again?"

" _Well_ ," Reese began slowly, running her teeth over her bottom lip--a nervous habit--before she spoke again. "Partly because I wanted to spend time with you. But, I also need you to run a full background check on somebody. I don't care if you need to hack into Justice League servers, I mean a _full_ background check,"

"On who?" Dick asked, tilting his head to the side, looking a bit confused, but Reese was able to see the way his ocean-blue eyes were already alight with glimmering excitement before she answered.

"Artemis."


	11. 9. Cold Case

**M O U N T J U S T I C E**   
**August 13, 15:28 EDT**

As much as she prided herself on having a higher intelligence than the average human being, Reese had to admit that listening to Captain Atom drone on and on and _on_ about historical covert ops missions and how to enact them was getting _undeniably_ boring.

So, she did what she always did when she got bored. She sketched.

Taking the pad of paper that each of them had on the little makeshift desk, Reese took out a pencil, turned to the side so she'd be able to see the side of Dick's face, and began to roughly sketch out the Boy Wonder's profile.

"...when your mission relies on subterfuge, resist the urge to go on the offensive..." Captain Atom was saying as he stood in front of the holo-screen that read _Espionage 101_. "The last thing you want is to _risk_ yourself and the _Team_...because a _covert operation_ means keeping to the _shadows_..."

He kept talking, but Reese zoned out again because it wasn't like Batman hadn't _already_ pounded this information into her head when she had first been starting out as Silverbird.

Don't reveal yourself, don't get caught, which is essentially the same thing, but whatever, Batman was Batman, and people listened to him...sometimes.

Most of the time.

Either way, she kept sketching, and Reese actually thought it was turning out pretty well. Dick had noticed what she was doing, of course, and he glanced at the brunette from the corner of his eye but snapped his gaze back to the front when Reese gave him a glare.

Everything had to be _perfect_ if this drawing was going to turn out the way she wanted it to, and that meant that Dick couldn't be looking at her. Although...one of the many, dare she say it, _endearing_ qualities about Robin was his mysteriousness.

Practically no one knew Dick's identity, and the Dynamic Duo in Gotham, for the longest time, people thought were little more than urban legends the police department had made up to scare criminals.

So, wouldn't it be _more_ mysterious if, in the final product of Reese's drawing, you'd be able to see only _one_ of the Boy Wonder's eyes, rather than both of them?

"Hey," she hissed out, careful to keep her volume under that of Captain Atom's, but since she and Dick were sitting so close, he heard her just fine.

"What?" See, there was this thing Dick did sometimes when he wanted to talk without bringing attention to himself. He threw his voice and became some sort of thirteen-year-old ventriloquist, speaking with his tongue without moving his mouth.

"Look at me," Reese said quietly, but when Dick went to turn his head, she quickly turned it back around. "With your eyes, not your head,"

Thus, the side-eye came back. Only it wasn't _really_ a side-eye, because there was no contempt in Dick's gaze, only curiosity, and admiration if Reese were being completely honest.

Then, while she was still half-listening to Captain Atom's lecture, Reese continued with her sketch, glancing up once in a while in order to get the finer details of Dick's face right.

Suddenly getting an idea, and trying to maintain the facade that she _was_ actually paying attention, Reese reached beneath her chair, pulling out a small black box Ollie had given her a few months ago.

Inside were an entire array of rainbow-colored chalk pastels, and Reese had about eleven different shades of blue, none of which were the _exact_ same shade as Dick's eyes.

So, she blended. Taking a white pastel, because everyone needed one of those, she lightly colored in the spot on her sketch where Dick's eye would be. Then, she took a darker navy and using her finger, gently shaded the two together, creating a new color that actually...looked fairly close.

Reese pursed her lips because she wasn't entirely sure if it was _quite_ right. So, ignoring whether or not Captain Atom was going to scold her, she took the sketch, and Dick's head, and turned the two to face each other, holding her drawing on one side of Dick's face.

Then, she took off his sunglasses.

Because Reese was sitting on the far end, no one was able to see Dick's face or the rather dumbfounded expression the Boy Wonder had on his face as he tried to process the fact that Reese had just taken off his sunglasses _in front of_ the rest of the Team.

"Yes!" Reese suddenly exclaimed, jumping up from her chair and prompting everyone to turn and stare at her.

"Something exciting?" Captain Atom asked, and Reese's entire face turned red.

"No," she answered quickly, sitting down again and avoiding. "Sorry," What Reese had exclaimed about was the fact that she had _actually_ gotten the color of Dick's eyes right.

She needed to remember that combination for later.

As Captain Atom turned back to his holo-screen and continued the lecture, Reese slipped her sketch over to Dick, who took it without looking away from their instructor, and everyone went back to their various ways of trying to stay awake.

Of course, that _was_ what everyone was doing, until, at least, Dick almost seemed to choke on air, and the Team's attention was brought back to where he and Reese were sitting.

"You okay, Rob?" Wally asked, looking a bit concerned and Dick let out a small wheeze.

"I'm fine," he said finally, and Reese couldn't help but notice that Dick's voice sounded a little bit strangled. But, before she could say anything about it, Captain Atom sighed.

"Okay," the older hero began. "Since everyone _obviously_ has better things to do," Captain Atom sent a pointed look towards Dick and Reese, who only shuffled in their spots, with Dick still trying to catch his breath. "We're going to learn in the field,"

Waving a hand, Captain Atom made the holo-screen he was standing in front of change, and a file reading **_CONFIDENTIAL_** popped up.

"This is a cold case," he explained. "Vietnam era," The holo-screen changed again, this time showcasing the army photo of a blond man with a buzzed haircut. "Captain Nathaniel Adams," Captain Atom continued. "United States Air Force. Convicted in 1968 of murdering Air Force General Clement Lemar. Adams died in prison. But, I've received a reliable tip he was _framed_. Your assignment: _Investigate_. _Prove_ Adams's _innocence_ or _reconfirm_ his _guilt_ and report back to me,"

"Really?" Superboy asked. "You need superpowered operatives for _this_?"

"Right, then," Captain Atom continued, waving an arm. "I'll continue the lecture,"

Needless to say, there was a collective outcry of " _No_!", before Captain Atom let the teen heroes go, and for that, Reese was grateful.

As the two of them began to make their way to the locker rooms in order to change into their costumes, Reese grabbed Dick's wrist, stopping the Boy Wonder in his tracks.

"Hey," she said quietly. "What was up with you earlier? You kinda looked like you were going to need Superboy to perform the Heimlich on you,"

But, Dick only shook his head, giving her a small smile. "I'm fine, pretty bird," he said finally. "Promise. You just... _surprised_ me, that's all,"

" _I_ surprised you?" Reese echoed, quirking an eyebrow, and Dick nodded.

"I mean, I've seen you draw before, but, like, that was _really_ good, and..." he trailed off, suddenly looking very sheepish as he ran his hand through his hair, messing up the black locks even more than they already had been.

"Dick," Reese began quietly, after glancing around to make sure the rest of the team wasn't nearby. "It's no big deal. I was bored. Drawing's what I do when I'm bored,"

Dick looked like he wanted to say something, but instead, the Boy Wonder just sighed heavily and opted to shock Reese's entire system by leaning over and kissing her cheek.

Then, like the ridiculous shadow ninja that he is, Dick disappeared down the hallway, leaving Reese standing there, her face as red as Wally's hair.

**A R L I N G T O N C O U N T Y  
August 13, 23:03 EDT**

To say Reese was jealous would be an understatement.

Here, she, Robin, and Miss Martian were, at the Pentagon, while Superboy and Wally were going to Las Vegas, and Artemis and Kaldur went to _Hawaii_.

And even worse, she and Dick were in the vents. _Again._ Only this time, they weren't looking for "lizard people".

Silverbird wasn't entirely sure why Robin had kissed her back at the cave, but it wasn't like they could really talk about it _now_ , not when M'gann was about to talk to General Eiling, the judge who had proceeded over Captain Adams's trial.

When the disguised Martian entered Eiling's office, Reese couldn't but notice that the woman Miss M had chosen for a disguise bore a startling resemblance to Serling Roquette, the same doctor who had created the F.O.G.

"General Eiling, sir!" M'gann saluted the older man, but Eiling didn't even look up from the papers he was studying.

"At ease, Captain," he began after a moment. "Sit. And explain to me why the Judge Advocate General's office is _reopening_ this case..."

"Respectfully," M'gann responded. "I am not at liberty to discuss that, sir. You were the _judge_ at Adams' _Court Martial_ , which makes you a potential witness--"

"Witness to what?" Eiling retorted. "The Adams case was open and shut,"

"Why don't you just tell me what you remember, General?" M'gann asked, and from where she and Dick were watching through the security feed on Robin's holo-glove, Reese both saw and heard General Eiling sigh heavily.

"Fine," the older man conceded finally. "Captain Nate Adams was your classic _malcontent..._ We were barely acquainted before the incident. In fact, I was better acquainted with his _victim..._ Adams blamed Lemar for a Viet Cong ambush...as if _any_ officer would _intentionally_ get his own men killed. But, Adams would _not_ listen to reason...he was caught in the act by an M.P. _Sergeant Polk_ , I think his name was...I was a colonel when I drew the case," Eiling continued. "I found Adams guilty and sent him to prison. Turned out to be a short sentence," the general added. "Adams took his own life before a year was out,"

➳➳➳

Later, Kid Flash and Superboy called Silverbird and Robin on their comms and told the two birds what Lieutenant Yarrow, Captain Adams' defense counsel, and old friend, had said about the actual trial.

Apparently, Adams had insisted he was drugged, but Shirley Mason, the medical examiner at the time, had said there weren't any drugs in the Captain's system. Reese called bullshit on that. There were multiple different types of drugs that would metabolize in a victim's system that a check-up wouldn't be able to spot them.

This was also the 60s, so that would be even more obvious, considering the forensic technology back _then_ was probably vastly inferior to the forensic tech of modern times.

"If Adams really _was_ framed," Silverbird whispered, careful to keep her voice low enough that Robin would be able to hear her, but not so loud that Eiling would catch them. "Then, the only logical place, and person, to investigate would be Shirley Mason,"

"The medical examiner who said that Nate _wasn't_ drugged," Robin added, giving Reese a smile. "Nice one, pretty bird,"

The brunette felt her face flush with the compliment before she scrunched her eyebrows together. "Boy Wonder, I just chose the logical course of action. You would have done the same thing,"

"Well, either way," Dick added, shrinking down his holo-screen and waving his hand around in the vent. "You're two major things, Rhysalin Blaire..."

"Which are... _what_ , exactly?" Reese asked when the thirteen-year-old across from her in the vent didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Smart," Robin began, before lightly tapping the very tip of Silverbird's nose. "And beautiful,"

Needless to say, Reese's face got even redder than before. Sure, she and Dick had been friends for a while, but he had never directly called her _beautiful_ before.

It was as if, just then, that Robin realized what exactly it was that he said because his face turned bright red, and he opened his mouth to say something, but before Dick _was_ able to speak, the sound of Wally's cackling suddenly came through both of their commlinks, and Robin jerked, knocking his foot against the side of the vent and causing a loud ' _bang'_ to echo, prompting both him and Silverbird to freeze.

But, when there were no shouts of exclamation from down in Eiling's office, Reese and Dick both let out twin sighs of relief, before Robin tapped his commlink, looking more than a little peeved.

"Dude!" he hissed. "What the hell is your problem?"

" _Sorry, lovebirds_ ," Wally answered, still sounding _way_ too giddy. " _I couldn't hold it in anymore. You guys are just too cu--_ " Dick tapped his commlink again, effectively hanging up on the speedster, before he turned around in the vent, beginning to make his way out of the Pentagon, muttering under his breath about " _stupid red-haired speedsters_ ".

Sometimes, Reese figured, Wally took his teasing a bit _too_ far.

**A R L I N G T O N  
August 13, 23:57 EDT**

Shirley Mason was dead.

None of _them_ killed her. The old medical examiner was already dead, stabbed, it seemed, when Silverbird, Robin, and Miss Martian got to her home in Arlington, Virginia.

"Looks like the medical examiner needs a medical examiner," Dick muttered and winced when Reese elbowed him.

" _So_ not the time, Boy Wonder," the brunette whispered, before turning back to look at the body, where Reese noticed something. "Robin," she began quietly, kneeling down beside Mason's corpse. "Look, she's holding something,"

"We can't disturb the crime scene," Dick said simply, though he did kneel down beside Reese, shining his holo-glove's flashlight closer. "But, we need to see what that is,"

"How's this?" M'gann asked before she levitated Shirley Mason up in the air, revealing that, when she had died, Mason had been holding what looked like a photograph.

"Perfect," Robin answered, before using his holo-glove to scan the picture. "Looks like this photo was taken in the _sixties,_ " Dick then pointed to the only woman that stood in the photo. "This woman _might_ be Mason..." he began. "But the sixties were a _long_ time ago,"

"They don't have to be," M'gann said, and Reese quirked an eyebrow, but Miss M only shifted her facial features to match that of the potential Shirley Mason from the photograph. "Here's the woman in the picture..." M'gann began, before shifting her face again so it looked about fifty years older. "And here's the woman on the floor. Their musculoskeletal structure is the same,"

"So, that means she's the woman in the picture?" Silverbird asked, and Miss Martian nodded.

"Definitely," she answered, just as Robin pulled up his holo-glove again.

"I'll run facial recognition software on the rest," he began. "It could take a while--but I should be able to generate a list of names to go with Mason's,"

"We may not have a while!" Reese suddenly exclaimed, having heard something come from outside. As Dick and M'gann looked over, the brunette gestured towards the window. "Cops," she answered simply. "So, unless we all want to get _arrested_ for something we didn't do, I suggest we book it,"

"She's right," Robin answered simply. "The facial rec will run on autopilot. We gotta go,"

**A N N A P O L I S  
** **August 14, 00:02 EDT**

Turns out, one of the people in the photo, a _General Trang_ , to be precise, was only forty-five minutes away from the home of the late Shirley Mason, in Annapolis, of all places.

' _I know my grasp of Earth history is based largely on Earth sit-coms..._ ' M'gann began over the psychic link. ' _But why would a North Vietnamese General be in a 1968 photograph with U.S. personnel?'_

' _Espionage?'_ Reese supplied, and Dick hummed.

' _Maybe,_ ' he said quietly. ' _General Trang was the first person my facial rec software identified, but that doesn't explain how Trang wound up living in a mega-mansion in the States. That takes money and connections..._'

' _Like I said,_ ' Reese continued. ' _Espionage._ '

' _Or ,' _Wally added, as he and Superboy stood off to the side, the five of them having met up with each other after the speedster and genomorph finished in Vegas. ' _Those could be two things that participating in an illegal smuggling ring might provide...'_

' _So maybe Adams was right!'_ Superboy exclaimed before Silverbird caught movement from inside Trang's home.

' _Wait!'_ she exclaimed, making everyone pause. ' _Trang's not alone in there!'_

_'She's right,'_ Superboy added, using his infrared vision to verify Reese's own statement. ' _Someone's with him!'_

When Silverbird saw what the person with Trang was holding, her Weird-O-Meter upped tenfold. ' _Is that a sword?' _She asked, and Robin's eyes widened.

' _Shirley Mason was killed by a sword!'_ Dick exclaimed, and Wally's eyes widened.

' _Then what are we waiting for_?' the speedster asked.

' _Let's get him!'_ Superboy added, but Robin only held up a hand, stopping the clone before he was able to go anywhere.

' _No,_ ' Dick said simply. ' _This is a covert op. We keep to the shadows. We don't take the offensive. Like in Captain Atom's lecture,_'

' _Dude, you were listening_?' Wally asked before he shrugged. ' _I just figured you were too distracted by Little Miss--'_

There was a soft ' _whoosh'_ sound that Reese almost didn't catch, but she did, and she turned around in time to notice that M'gann was gone, just as Dick smashed his heel down on Wally's foot again.

Camouflaged, no doubt, and flying towards the open patio door at Trang's house. Quickly, before any of the boys could stop her, Silverbird shot a grappling arrow at the bottom of Trang's deck, and let the line yank her towards the bottom.

Reese perched upside down like a koala on one of the patio's supports, oblivious to the way Dick was staring at her, looking like someone just told him Wayne Manor exploded.

"I know why you are here," a man's frail voice said, and Silverbird assumed that was Trang. "I still have my sources. I know about Mason. And I know your work. But I am disappointed, Rako," Trang added, as Reese slowly began to climb over the deck's railing.

Inside the room, Trang, an elderly-looking Asian man, was sitting in a chair holding a glass of some sort of drink, while across from him stood a--was that a _samurai?_

"I have protected you since you were a _child_ ," Trang continued. "Have you no loyalty?"

"I do," the samurai answered simply, his voice rough like sandpaper. "Just not to you,"

Rako then raised his sword above his head, and the blade erupted into flickering arcs of blue electricity, much like how Kaldur's eel tattoos did whenever he used his aquatic sorcery.

But, before the samurai was able to bring his sword down, Reese shot another arrow at Rako's wrist, causing a tripwire to wrap around the other man's wrist. She dug her boot heels into the floor of the patio, stopping Rako's hand before he was able to commit murder.

"A new security team, General?" Rako sneered. "Most impressive," Then, the samurai wrapped his other hand around Silverbird's line and yanked Reese forward.

The brunette, admittedly, was way too shocked at this new development to gain the upper hand, and the next thing Reese knew, Rako had already backhanded her, throwing Silverbird back until she sprawled on her back on the floor, her left cheek burning.

"Too bad I'll have to fire her," Then, Rako held his sword above his head again, but before he was able to bring the blade down on Reese herself, M'gann moved in, using her telekinesis to block Rako's movement.

For a few moments, the samurai seemed to be frozen, before he almost seemed to _see_ the camouflaged Miss Martian, and he threw a fist out.

Two seconds later, M'gann landed on the wooden floorboards beside a disoriented Reese, who had only just now begun to regain her bearings, sitting up wearily and placing her hand on the side of her head.

Then, Superboy burst into the room, but Rako just moved his sword in a slicing motion again, and to Reese's shock, blood pooled out of the cut that spanned the size of the Kryptonian shield on his chest.

' _Superboy_!' M'gann exclaimed through the psychic link. ' _You're cut? But, a Kryptonian can't be cut!'_

_'M'gann,_ ' Reese added as the fuzziness in her vision began to clear in time for her to see Kid Flash bounce off Rako's back like a pinball, landing somewhere else in the room. ' _I think we have bigger problems to worry about!'_

Rako threw four shurikens towards Silverbird, just as Robin swung through the window on his own grappling line, but Reese had a backup plan ready. Honestly, she really hoped this worked.

Opening her mouth, Reese let out a Canary Cry, and thankfully, the makeshift forcefield the sonic scream created paused the shurikens in midair, stopping their momentum and, when Reese shut her mouth, made the bladed objects fall to the ground.

"C'mon, Supey," Wally told the genomorph, helping Superboy stand up. "Get it together!"

"What?" the other boy said softly, before realizing what Kid Flash had said. "Oh, right,"

Meanwhile, Robin helped Silverbird stand, giving her a look that was equal parts relief, and equal parts exasperation. "You're crazy, you know that, pretty bird?" Dick whispered, and Reese found herself giving a small smile.

"Sorry," she said quietly, but Robin only shook his head.

"Don't be," he said simply. "Mă bucur că ești bine," _I'm just glad you're okay._

"Let's take him!" Superboy shouted, but before any of them could make a move, the lights went out, and Silverbird heard the sound of fabric being ripped, a split second before Robin tackled her to the ground again.

When the lights came back on, M'gann, Wally, and Superboy were stuck underneath a fallen tapestry, while Reese and Dick were standing over the dead body of General Trang.

Again, _they_ weren't the ones who killed him, it would seem Rako had been the one to do that, but that was another person involved with Nathaniel Adams' case who had been killed tonight.

"...practically a comedy," Reese heard Wally say, as Dick crouched beside Trang's body.

"It _would_ be..." the Boy Wonder muttered. "If Trang's _corpse_ didn't scream tragedy,"

**M E T R O P O L I S  
August 14, 01:45 EDT**

About half an hour later, the five of them met up with Artemis and Kaldur, who had since returned from speaking with Nathaniel Adams' children, at a diner in Metropolis. Dressed in civvies, obviously.

Because there were now seven of them, and the diner's booth could really only seat six, Kaldur had flipped a chair around and was sitting at the outer end of the table, while M'gann, Superboy, and Wally sat on one side of the booth, and Dick, Reese, and Artemis sat on the other.

Reese sat in between Dick and Artemis, and as much as she was still a _little_ suspicious about the Team's newest member, especially considering who her family was, Silverbird had decided to give the blonde the benefit of the doubt.

Also, in order to divert suspicion away from the fact that they were all having a psychic conversation, the seven young heroes had their cell phones out, pretending to be distracted by their devices instead.

Apparently, it was working, considering Bibbo Bibbowski, the owner of the diner, did _not_ seem amused.

"Kids today..." Reese heard the older man mutter to one of the only other customers in the diner. "They stay out 'till all hours--and for what? So they can _ignore_ each other! In _my_ diner!"

' _Has everyone downloaded the annotated photo we found in the dead woman's hand_?' Dick asked through the mental link, and the others all gave various agreements, even Superboy, who still seemed a little shaken up that he had been injured earlier.

Meanwhile, Reese was nursing a cup of coffee. Granted, it was only about eleven o'clock in Star City, but she hadn't been running on a lot of sleep, per usual, and she wanted to be _somewhat_ alert when the Team finally confronted Rako.

Also, Reese usually hated coffee itself, but she needed the caffeine.

"Should you really be drinking that?" Dick's voice was barely more than a breath, but Reese glanced over at the boy next to her anyway.

"Like you haven't lived off of less working with _Batman_ ," she retorted, voice just as quiet, and though he was wearing his sunglasses again, Reese saw Dick's eyebrow's scrunch together.

"I'm going to pretend that wasn't a dig at me, and then do this," Dick answered, before he, quite literally, swiped the mug from Reese's hands and drank the rest of the coffee in less than five seconds.

But, only after he had finished did Dick realize that yes, he _had_ just chugged down a mug of burning coffee, and his throat felt like it was being scalded.

"You realize now what you did?" Reese asked, and Dick leaned his forehead against the surface of the table, wheezing.

"Yep," he answered, nodding against the chrome, before pointing his index finger in the air. "Remind me never to do that again,"

Reese opened her mouth to say something, but the sound of someone clearing their throat stopped her, and both she and Dick glanced up to find the rest of the team staring at them with varying degrees of smugness on their faces.

Well, M'gann, Wally, and Artemis looked smug. Superboy looked confused, and Kaldur wasn't even paying attention.

' _Right,_ ' Dick said quickly, and he and Reese quickly spoke back into the mental link, while also avoided looking at each other. ' _Uh, the facial recognition software has identified almost everyone in the photo...which we think was taken in 1968, the year Adams was charged with murder. The only players not in the photo are Nathaniel Adams himself, and General Wade Eiling, who was the judge at Adams' court-martial. Eiling sentenced Adams to life in prison, where he died. After which Eiling married Adams' wife and raised his two children, Randall and Peggy,'_

_'Okay,'_ Reese cut in. ' _That is wrong on so many levels. But, Robin,'_ she added, holding up her phone. ' _The boy in the photo, could he be the assassin? The one Trang was calling 'Rako'?'_

_'Trang said he had protected him since Rako was a child,'_ M'gann added. ' _But Rako also said he was loyal to someone other than Trang,'_

_'Hence why General Trang was the next person to die,'_ Reese said.

' _It's a good bet that 'someone','_ Dick continued. ' _Is our missing C.I.A. spook Alec Rois. His dossier listed numerous nasty specialties, including brainwashing...'_

_'This photograph is looking more and more like a hit list!'_ Artemis exclaimed as she studied the photo. ' _Somehow, Rois and Rako found out we were investigating the Adams' case...'_

_'And decided to tie up the loose ends!'_ Wally added. ' _That means either Sgt. Polk or Adams' old buddy Henry Yarrow is the next to die!'_

_'Doesn't that make this...'_ Reese trailed off, glancing around the table at her friends. ' _Doesn't that make this our fault?'_

_'What's our next move, Boss-Man?'_ Dick asked Kaldur, and Aqualad glanced up.

' _Our next move?'_ he echoed, seeming a bit distracted. ' _We split the team. Half of us investigate Polk, here in Metropolis, while the other half heads to Las Vegas to protect Yarrow,'_

**L A S V E G A S  
** **August 14, 00:18 PDT**

"Not too fancy," Dick muttered, peering through the bushes as he, Reese, Wally, and Superboy hid outside Henry Yarrow's house. "It looks like Yarrow wasn't on the take like the others,"

"Knew I liked the guy," Wally added, as Reese continued to study the former Air Force Lieutenant's house.

There was something... _off_ about it, but Reese couldn't place her finger on what it was. And that was what irked her. When she _knew_ something was wrong, but couldn't figure out what it was.

"We should get in there," Wally continued talking, as a steady beeping noise suddenly entered Reese's ears. She had reached out with her supersenses, trying to find anything out of the ordinary, and this was definitely abnormal. "Warn him he's in danger..."

Reese's eyes widened as she suddenly realized what the beeping sound meant, and she whipped around to face the three boys she had come with.

"Get down!" she shouted, a split second before Yarrow's house exploded, throwing the four of them back with a wave of heat and fire.

"Yarrow was inside!" Wally shouted, already on his feet and running in a circular motion around the flaming house, creating a vortex that effectively put out the flames.

But, when Reese wasn't able to hear a heartbeat, she knew they were too late.

"Fast work, KF!" Dick exclaimed as he, Reese, and Superboy ran over to where Wally was hunched over in the wreckage of Yarrow's house, trying to catch his breath.

"Not fast enough," the young speedster said despondently. "Yarrow's dead,"

"You sure it's Yarrow?" Dick asked, and Wally gave a small nod.

"Yeah," he answered simply. "I recognize the tattoo," Reese tilted her head towards the spot on Yarrow's arm that Wally was gesturing too. A bald eagle was inked on the man's left bicep, and Reese studied it for a moment before Superboy spoke up.

"I don't get it," the genomorph began. "Rako's M.O. was swords and shuriken,"

"But," Reese cut in. "Rois' M.O. apparently included demolition,"

"Confirms they're working together to _hit_ the _hit list_ ," Dick added, and Wally sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And if Kaldur, Artemis, and M'gann didn't have better luck with Polk--then he's dead too," Kid Flash said. "Along with any chance we had of breaking this case..."

**S T . G E O R G E  
August 14, 03:26 MDT**

The team met up again in St. George, Utah, at an abandoned warehouse, where Silverbird instantly got a bad feeling. Also, the others didn't have any better luck in Metropolis than she, Robin, Superboy, and Kid Flash had in Vegas, and by now, everyone was getting impatient.

"Can we just get this over with?" Superboy asked, just before another voice, one that didn't belong to any member of the team, spoke from somewhere else in the hangar.

"We can indeed," Then, the lights turned on, and Silverbird noticed that the seven of them were all surrounded, by everyone they were looking for.

"You're Rako," M'gann began, looking towards the samurai-assassin. "General Trang's protege, all grown up to become his _murderer_ ,"

"Which means _you_ ," Artemis added, turning to the man that stood to her left. "Must be the C.I.A. spook--Alec Rois,"

"Alec Rois is dead," the man said simply, and Reese sent him a glare.

"Ooh," she said rhetorically. "You're his ghost come back from the dead. Big whoop,"

"That just leaves the big boss..." Robin trailed off, and everyone looked towards the catwalk as Wally said a single name.

" _Henry Yarrow,_ "

"You don't seem surprised," the older man sneered. "Did you also guess you were walking into a trap?"

"We did, actually," Kid Flash retorted smoothly. "Not much of one though, since we _outnumber_ you seven to three,"

"After forty years in the arms game, kid," Yarrow added. "Let me offer you a little tip... _quality_ trumps _quantity._ Unless you're talking explosives,"

Silverbird then turned her head to face Rois, who was suddenly holding some sort of detonator in his left hand. "My friend is holding a _dead man's switch_ ," Yarrow continued as Reese's eyes widened. "If anything makes him unhappy--or causes him to let go--this whole hangar goes _boom,_ " the older man suddenly pointed towards Superboy. "You keep that in mind, son," he added. "I see that _S_. Can guess what it means. But your little pals aren't _invulnerable,_ even if you are--"

"Him?" Rako echoed. "Invulnerable? My _sword_ proved otherwise!"

"It proved nothing, Rako," Yarrow continued, glaring at the assassin. "Your sword was forged by our stolen government X-ionizer. Your sword could cut the _real_ Superman,"

"Perhaps we might return to the matter at hand..." Kaldur began, and Yarrow waved a hand.

"Apologies," he began, and Reese did her best not to smirk. "Old men are so easily distrac--wait a minute...Where's the flippin' Boy Wonder?"

Easily distracted was right. During the team's confrontations with Rois and Rako about Rako's own sword, Robin had scurried up to the catwalk Yarrow was standing, slamming his boots into Yarrow's stomach and knocking the man across the catwalk.

"Flipping your way now!" he cackled as Yarrow sprawled, though the older man was _far_ from pleased.

"Rois!" Yarrow shouted. "Blow this popsicle stand!"

"I'm trying!" the former C.I.A. agent shouted. "Something's holding my thumb down!"

That ' _something_ ' was Miss Martian's telekinesis, and Silverbird and Artemis both shot twin arrows towards Rois, with colored foam exploding out of the ends and covering the man's entire arm.

"No!" Rois shouted as Wally spun through the air like a pinball again, slamming into the other man with an exuberant shout of _"Yes!"._

With Rois out of the way, and Aqualad going up against Rako, Reese shot another grappling line arrow up to the catwalk, joining Dick up there just as Yarrow pointed his gun at both of them.

"Should have let sleeping dogs lie, kiddies," he muttered, before pulling the trigger three times and letting three bullets begin their journey towards Robin and Silverbird.

But, before either of them were able to get shot, Superboy lunged between them, and the bullets ricocheted off. Unfortunately, one bounced back and sliced through the right side of Henry Yarrow's chest, causing the man to fall back towards the ground.

' _Henry Yarrow,_ ' M'gann began softly as she looked into the older man's mind. ' _We must know the truth,'_

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
August 14, 11:57 EDT**

"It begins and ends with Nathaniel Adams," Miss Martian began her report back in the cave, where the team was standing with Captain Atom. "Adams uncovered evidence of a weapons smuggling ring, and he brought intel of a weapons drop to his superior officer--General Lemar,"

"Unfortunately," Silverbird added from where she stood beside Robin, arms crossed over her chest. "It turns out that Lemar was a _part_ of the smuggling ring and took Adams' intel as an opportunity,"

"Lemar could get rid of Adams _and_ the head of the ring--Henry Yarrow," M'gann continued. "Yarrow was only a lieutenant and the general _resented_ taking orders from him. So Lemar tipped off their North Vietnamese contact--General Trang. Yarrow was told Trang had simply been instructed not to show at the drop...but Lemar secretly ordered Trang to _ambush_ the squad instead,"

"All were meant to die," Reese explained. " _Including_ Yarrow. But, Captain Adams spoiled Lemar's plan by heroically saving both himself _and_ Lt. Yarrow,"

"Now, Yarrow had two problems," Wally began. "His incorruptible buddy, Nate, who knew Lemar was part of the ring...and Lemar himself, who had tried to have Yarrow killed. So, Yarrow pitted one problem against the other. It wasn't hard to get Adams riled up against Lemar. Wasn't hard to drug Adams' drink either. Yarrow sent Adams to confront Lemar, the drug took care of Nate, and Yarrow's man _Polk_ took care of Lemar, using Nate's knife to frame him,"

"The trial for Adams' ' _crime',_ " Reese added, using her fingers as quotation marks. "Was a hoax, since nearly _everyone_ involved, including Yarrow, Mason, Blankly, and Polk, was a member of the smuggling ring themselves,"

"What about Eiling?" Captain Atom asked suddenly. "The judge at the trial?"

"Eiling wasn't in the photo of ring conspirators," Robin explained. "Far as we know, he truly _believed_ in Adams' guilt,"

"Yarrow's ' _psychic death-bed confession'_ didn't confirm that?" Captain Atom asked M'gann, but the Martian girl only shook her head.

"I'm new at reading a non-telepathic mind," M'gann explained. "And Yarrow _died_ seconds after we linked..."

"Yeah," Artemis added. "For the _second_ time. Of course, the first dead Yarrow was actually Polk, who had the same tattoo,"

"When we searched Polk's home," Kaldur began. "We were meant to think he had packed a bag and fled, but the height of the body found at Yarrow's residence matched that of Polk, not Yarrow,"

"And when we found intel among the debris tipping us to the airfield in St. George," Superboy added. "We _knew_ it was all too easy. We knew we were being set up,"

"Team," Captain Atom said, reaching out and shaking Superboy's hand. "I'm impressed. You did good work,"

"Yeah," Artemis scoffed. "Work that comes too late to help Nathaniel Adams,"

"But," Captain Atom added, setting a hand on Artemis's shoulder. "Not too late for his kids. Go tell them what kind of man their father _really_ was,"


	12. 10. Denial

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
August 19, 19:39 EDT**

It had been about ten days since Artemis had joined the Team. Ten days since Reese had asked Dick to run a background check on her. Ten days since Silverbird had found out who she really was.

At first, she was angry. Angry and scared. Seriously, how could Oliver not have _told_ her about this?

But, then, Reese began to feel bad. It wasn't like it was _Artemis's_ fault her dad was...who he was. At the time, she had been angry, angry at Oliver for the fact that he hadn't told her he was taking on a new protege.

And, if Reese was being completely honest, she was maybe even a bit angry at herself.

Dinah--Black Canary--had told her before that nobody thought she was inferior, that she _was_ a valuable member of the Team, but that didn't stop the twelve-year-old brunette from thinking that maybe if she were better, then Oliver wouldn't have needed to take on another protege, so soon after Roy had left.

The voice of the cave's computer-AI jerked Reese from her thoughts, and she looked up in time to see Kaldur and Superboy initiate some combat training.

Superboy threw the first punch, but Kaldur managed to block, and for the next couple of minutes, they seemed to be evenly matched. As they were sparring, Artemis turned to M'gann, and Reese figured she was still bent on somehow dating Superboy.

Why she was doing that, Reese had no sane clue.

"Kaldur's, uh, _nice_ , don't you think?" the blonde archer began, causing Reese to raise an eyebrow. _Subtle_ , she thought to herself. "Handsome, commanding," Artemis turned to M'gann, crossing her arms over her chest. "You should _totally_ ask him out,"

Reese didn't mean to laugh. Truly, she didn't. But it was just _so funny_. To think, that _M'gann_ of all people would be attracted to Aqualad. Anyone with eyes could see that Miss Martian and Superboy had feelings for each other.

Artemis, it seemed, didn't have eyes.

"What's so funny?" Artemis spoke up, her voice sharp, and Reese snapped her jaw shut, still giggling as she placed her hands over her mouth.

"Nothing," she managed to gasp out. "Nothing at all,"

"Kaldur's like a big brother to me," M'gann told Artemis. "But, you know who would make the _cutest_ couple? Reese and _Robin_ ,"

This time, it was like Reese's brain had short-circuited. She blinked for several seconds, before shaking her head and crossing her arms, tilting her head to look at both Artemis and M'gann, who were staring down at her, smirks on both of their faces.

"Okay, first of all," Reese began, popping up from where she had been sitting on the floor between M'gann and Artemis to begin counting on her fingers. "That is _so_ not true. Second of all, Green Arrow would _never_ let me date anyone before I turned thirteen. And third of all, why are we even talking about me, when we really _should_ be talking about, oh I don't know, Artemis and Wally?"

"Me," Artemis pointed to herself. "And _Wally_?" The three of them turned to the red-haired speedster, who was currently mouthing through a burrito a few yards away. M'gann, thank God, was distracted easily, and seamlessly diverted her attention from Reese and Robin to Artemis and Kid Flash.

"Reese is right," the martian agreed, gesturing between Artemis and the speedster. "You're so full of passion, and he's so full of..."

"It?" Artemis asked, and all three of them laughed. After a moment, Reese looked down at her feet again, scuffing the toe of her heeled boot against the floor.

Why would both Artemis _and_ M'gann think she and Robin were dating? Sure, Reese hung out with Dick every free chance she got, and she trusted him with her life, even with her trust issues.

Did it really look like they were dating?

A thump from the training circle jerked Reese from her thoughts, and the brunette turned in time to see Superboy kick the back of Kaldur's back and flip Aqualad over his shoulder, the Atlantean's back thudding into the ground.

**_Fail Aqualad_** , the computer's voice called out mechanically, and Superboy straightened up, rubbing his hands together.

"Black Canary taught me that," the Cadmus clone said, and Reese grinned at the thought of Dinah making progress with Superboy's underlying anger issues, just as the top of the mountain opened up, and Red Tornado flew down, beginning to walk slowly towards the Zeta tube.

"Do you have a mission for us?" Wally asked, speeding in front of the android, who paused and turned to glance at him.

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility," Red Tornado said stoically, his words eerily similar, almost identical, to what he had told them when they asked about their first mission before the Team had gone up against Mister Twister.

"Yeah," Wally admitted reluctantly. "But, well, the Batman's with _the Robin_ doing the Dynamic Duo in Gotham--"

"Cape Canaveral," Reese cut Wally off, and when everyone turned to look at her, varying degrees of confusion on their faces, the brunette shrugged. "What?" she asked. "Before he left, Robin told me he and Batman had to deal with some sort of League of Shadows crap down at Cape Canaveral," Reese noticed the way M'gann and Artemis were staring at her, and the twelve-year-old glared at the other two girls. "We're not dating!"

" _Anyway_ ," Wally continued, glancing suspiciously over at Reese for a moment before turning back to Red Tornado. " _You're_ headed somewhere, _right_? Hot date, or a _mission_?"

"If we _can_ be of help..." Aqualad supplied, holding out a hand.

Seemingly giving in, Red Tornado turned around, pulling up a few holo-screens, the main of which showed a picture of an elderly man dressed in a suit, holding a cane. When Reese recognized him, her eyes widened.

"This is Kent Nelson," Red Tornado began. "A friend. He is 106 years old--"

"Guy doesn't look a day over ninety," Wally hissed to Artemis, and Reese rolled her eyes as Red Tornado continued his explanation.

"--and he has been missing for twenty-three days. Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to your mentors' Justice _League_ ," the holo-screen of Kent changed to one of a male figure, dressed in blue and gold garb, a featureless golden helmet adorning his head.

"Of _course_ ," Kaldur spoke up in realization, arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the holo-screens. "Nelson was Earth's Sorcerer Supreme," the Atlantean said, his voice said. "He was Doctor Fate!"

Again, Wally tilted his head towards Artemis, and Reese gritted her teeth at the words that came out of the speedster's mouth.

"Ngh, more like _Doctor Fake_. Guy knows a little advanced science and ' _Dumbledores_ ' it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes," Reese was literally _this_ close to turning around and snapping at the redhead, but Red Tornado spoke again before she was able to act on anything.

"Kent may simply be on one of his walkabouts _._ But, he is caretaker to the Helmet of Fate, the _source_ of the Doctor's mystic might, and it would be unwise to leave such power unguarded,"

Next, M'gann stepped forward, looking a bit awed. "He is like the great sorcerer priests and priestesses of Mars. I would be _honored_ to help find him,"

"Me too!" Wally's hand shot up into the air before Reese was able to say anything, and she slammed a hand against her forehead.

Seriously, didn't he ever _give up_? The speedster walked forward, and to Reese, it looked like it physically pained Wally to admit that he "believed" in magic.

" _So_ honored I can barely stand it. Magic... _rocks_ ," Reese rolled her eyes, wishing Dick would somehow be able to make Wally a better liar before Red Tornado suddenly held up an intricate-looking key.

"Take this," the android said as Aqualad picked up the key. "It is the key to the Tower of Fate,"

Behind her, Reese heard Wally speak again, presumably to M'gann, and once again, Reese wished immensely that she could've gone to Florida with Robin and Batman.

" _What_ are the chances," the speedster began. "That we both _so_ admire the mystic arts?"

This time, Reese _actually_ groaned out loud, throwing her head into her hands and pressing her palms into her eyes. Sometimes she _seriously_ wished that she worked with Batman and Robin more.

➳➳➳

The Bioship was flying towards Salem, Massachusetts, where the Tower of Fate was located when Artemis spoke up from her spot at the front.

"So, Wally," the blonde began, glancing across her right shoulder to the speedster, who was sitting just past Reese, who sat between them. "When did you first realize your _honest affinity_ for sorcery?"

"Well," Wally began, stuttering a bit. "I-I don't like to _brag_ \--"

"Yes you do," Reese cut the older boy off, but she only smirked when he turned to glare at her before continuing.

"What I was _going_ to say..." Wally started again. "Was that, before I became Kid Flash, I _seriously_ considered becoming a wizard myself," the redhead folded his arms behind his head, leaning back in his chair, and Reese snickered.

"What?" the brunette grinned. "Were you thinking about going to Scotland and joining Hogwarts as well?" Wally glared at her again, but before he could say anything, Miss Martian spoke up.

"We've reached Tornado's coordinates," the martian said simply. "But--"

"Nothing's there," Superboy added, and Reese found herself narrowing her eyes as she stared at the empty field.

She assumed that the ' _Tower of Fate_ ' would be a massive structure, but if Dr. Fate was really as powerful as Tornado said, there was undoubtedly some sort of magic at play.

"Take us down," Aqualad said firmly, and M'gann landed the Bioship softly on the grass at the edge of the small field where the tower was supposed to be.

As they all got out, there was a rustle at the edge of Reese's hearing, but when the brunette turned her head, all she saw was a boarded-up theater, the establishment worn and broken-down with age.

_It was probably just some sort of debris falling over,_ Reese decided. _Nothing to worry about_.

With the next few minutes they had, Wally sped around in a wide loop, but, _obviously_ , he didn't find anything. Finally, the speedster stopped in front of Reese and Artemis, looking a bit discouraged and skeptical.

"Nothing," he wheezed, a bit out-of-breath. "This isn't simple camouflage,"

Artemis and Reese exchanged a dubious glance, both of their arms crossed over their chests in skepticism before the blonde turned to the redhead.

"So, what do you think?" Artemis asked. "Adaptive micro-optical electronics combined with... _phase shifting_?"

"Absolutely," Wally agreed, but then abruptly changed his answer when M'gann walked up next to him. " _Not_. Clearly, mystic powers are at work here,"

Reese rolled her eyes, fed up with Wally's ' _attempts_ ' at getting M'gann to like him, and she turned around, walking to the back of their little group where Kaldur was standing. Aqualad then reached into his pocket, pulling out the key they had received from Red Tornado.

"A test of faith..." the Atlantean mused quietly, and he tilted the key to the side, and Reese's eyes widened as she saw the word ' _insert_ ' inscribed on the side. Carefully, she reached out a hand before glancing up at Aqualad.

"May I?" Reese asked, and Kaldur gently placed the key in her waiting palm. Walking forward, the brunette inserted the key into a spot about three feet up from the ground, and half of the key disappeared.

Reese twisted it, and a large oak door appeared out of thin air, connected to a massive brick tower that extended high up into the air.

The Tower of Fate.

Though she wasn't able to see her teammates' faces, Reese was able to assume she knew what they looked like, and she pushed the door open, the old wood creaking with the movement.

They all walked inside, and the door closed behind them. But, when Reese glanced over her shoulder, the door was gone, and they were essentially trapped within a brick room, torches flickering high up the walls.

"Uh...where'd the door go?" Superboy asked, just as a hologram of Kent Nelson appeared in front of Reese and Kaldur, causing both of them to glance at it.

" _Greetings_ ," the hologram began. " _You have entered with a key, but the Tower does not recognize you. Please state your purpose and intent,_ "

Reese opened her mouth to speak, but Wally cut her off. And what the speedster said was most definitely _not_ the truth. For Wally, anyway.

"We are _true_ believers," he began. "Here to find Doctor Fate,"

Reese's heart sunk to her feet as Kent's face turned almost disappointed before the hologram wavered and disappeared. She twisted her head to glare at Wally over her shoulder, but before she could snap at him, there was the sound of cracking, before the ground essentially crumbled beneath their feet, and the six of them began to fall down a deep pit, at the bottom of which Reese was able to see the faint orange glow of molten magma.

Quickly, Reese drew back her bowstring and shot an arrow at the wall of the pit, and the arrowhead lodged deep into the rock, the grappling line attached to it pulling taut and yanking the brunette to a stop, almost dislocating her shoulder in the process.

Glancing around, Reese realized that the others were alright as well. Artemis had shot her crossbow at the wall, and grabbed Aqualad, while M'gann was hovering in the air with Wally.

The only one who was having any sort of trouble was Superboy, seeing as how he had grabbed onto the wall with his bare hands, and his fingers were digging divets into the rock as he slid down the cliff-face.

"Superboy!" Reese cried out, eyes widening as the genomorph's feet hit the lava, causing Superboy to let out a pained cry, but he managed to take them out unharmed.

His boots, on the other hand, were completely destroyed, and Superboy was most definitely _not_ happy about it.

" _Those_ ," he grumbled, eyebrow twitching. "were my favorite boots," Then, the clone tilted his head up, shouting up towards the others. "This Nelson guy better be worth it!"

"Tell me about it," Reese called down to him, both of her hands gripping the handle of her bow like a vice. Meanwhile, Wally and M'gann were beginning to lose altitude, and that was when Reese remembered that Martians weren't the best equipped to combat high temperatures, as were Atlanteans.

"Having trouble..." M'gann gasped out as she and Wally made a particularly low drop. "...maintaining altitude," the green-skinned girl lightly wiped her forehead. "I'm so hot,"

"You certainly are," Wally agreed, looking at her dreamily, and Reese rolled her eyes.

" _Wally_!" Artemis reprimanded him from where she and Aqualad were clinging to the cliff-face, and the redhead glared at her.

"Hey!" he shot back, jerking a thumb towards himself. "Inches above sizzling death, I'm entitled to speak my mind!"

Kaldur also wiped the back of his hand against his forehead, glancing at Artemis as Reese slowly began to descend down the cliff.

"My physiology--" the Atlantean began as the brunette paused next to them. "-- _and_ M'gann's are susceptible to extreme heat. We must climb out quickly,"

"That's it!" Reese exclaimed, as a thought suddenly shot through her head, while Artemis and Kaldur glanced over at her, looking confused. "Earlier, when that Kent hologram was here, we never _actually_ answered his question!" She tilted her head backward, and projected her voice so it was loud, but not too loud that she let out a Canary Cry. "Red Tornado sent us to see if Kent Nelson and the helmet were safe!"

Then, undoubtedly using some sort of magic, a stone floor suddenly closed, cutting off the six young heroes from the bubbling lava. Superboy jumped down to the ground as Wally and M'gann fell, while Aqualad, Artemis, and Reese landed lightly on their feet.

"This platform," Kaldur began, crouching down and running his fingers over the stone. "It should be red-hot. But, it is cool to the touch,"

Reese narrowed her eyes, crouching down next to Aqualad and placing her own, smaller hand against the floor, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath as she realized that: _yes_ , Aqualad was right, this platform _was_ cool, colder than it should be, considering they were hovering above lava mere seconds before.

She turned her head over her shoulder to say something to Kaldur, but before Reese was able to speak, there was the sound of Artemis's enraged voice as she walked forward, grabbing onto Wally's shoulder and pushing him away from M'gann.

Reese could only assume that the speedster said something idiotic again.

" _Enough_!" the blonde was yelling. "Your little ' _Impress Megan At All Costs_ ' nearly got us all barbecued!"

"When did this become _my_ fault?" Wally retorted, and Reese sighed as she and Kaldur stayed crouching on the ground, inspecting the platform they were currently standing on.

"When you _lied_ to that--whatever it was, and called yourself a true believer!"

"Wally..." M'gann's voice sounded equal parts disappointed and shocked. "You don't believe?"

For a second, Wally frowned, before the speedster suddenly threw his hands up in the air, looking fed up with everything.

"Fine!" he shouted. "Fine! I _lied_ about believing in magic. But magic is the real lie. A major load,"

"Wally," Kaldur cut in, not looking up from where he ran his webbed fingers against the stone. "I studied for a year at the conservatory of sorcery in Atlantis," Aqualad glanced towards Kid Flash. "The mystic arts created the skin icons that power my water-bearers,"

"Dude," Wally retorted, still not giving up. "You ever hear of _bio-electricity_? Hey, in primitive cultures, _fire_ was once considered magical too. Today it's all just a bunch of tricks,"

"You're pretty close-minded for a guy who can break the sound barrier in his _sneakers_ ," Artemis mused, and Wally held his hands up.

"That's _science_ ," the speedster retorted. "I recreated Flash's laboratory experiment and _here I am._ Everything can be explained with _science_ ,"

Reese's eyes landed on a trapdoor that was just in front of her, and when she glanced up at Aqualad, the Atlantean gave a solid nod.

"Hey, Wally?" Reese called over her shoulder, and when he glanced over at her, the twelve-year-old pointed to the trapdoor. "How much are you willing to bet on your theory?"

Before Wally was able to say anything in response, Reese had already tugged on the handle, and instead of all of them getting roasted by the lava's backdraft, snowflakes and a winter wind blew up into where the team was standing, the wind making Reese's hair fly in front of her face.

"It's snow!" M'gann exclaimed, and Artemis glanced over her shoulder at the speedster.

"Do you _ever_ get tired of being wrong?" she asked, smirking as she gave Wally an expectant look once they had all jumped through the trapdoor and landed within an arctic-like landscape, the trapdoor disappearing behind them in a flash of golden light. "Well?"

Wally, despite all of the evidence pointing towards _obvious_ magical work at play, wasn't convinced, and Reese swore she was about to hit him.

"Ever hear of String Theory?" the redhead began. "We're in a pocket dimension," Artemis groaned, and Reese rolled her eyes, turning her head to the side, only to see a cane hovering in the air.

If she hadn't already experienced what she had, the brunette would have thought that strange. As M'gann pointed to the cane, asking what it was, Reese had already reached it, gently wrapping her hand around the cane.

But, when she went to pull it out of the air, her hand was stuck. She couldn't move. Reese pulled harder, tried to pull her hand off the cane, but nothing was working.

"Uh, guys?" she called over her shoulder. "A little help?" Artemis started to walk over, just as Wally muttered something about ' _Nelson's magic wand_ '.

The two older teens reached Reese, and the three easily lifted the cane from the snow, but when they tried to let go, none of them were able to.

Reese's eyes widened as the cane began to glow before it flew suddenly up in the air, taking her, Artemis, and Wally with it. The three of them landed on what Reese could only _assume_ was a staircase, it was really one of those optical illusion ones, where they twist and turn all over, upside down and backward.

Blinking her eyes open, the brunette was shocked when she saw an alive-and-well Kent Nelson, only it looked like he was being held hostage by some kid with horned hair, a cat, and--

"Abra Kadabra!" Wally exclaimed, and Kent glanced over at them.

"Well, would you look at that?" Reese heard the old man say before both he _and_ the cane glowed gold. Kent then flew over to the platform where Reese, Wally, and Artemis were trapped.

As soon as the man grabbed onto the cane, the three young heroes were able to let go. The ropes that were bound around Kent's wrists disappeared and they all stood to their feet.

"In here!" the older man called, waving the cane around, and a pair of doors appeared within the wall. An elevator.

The kid with the weird hair shot bolts of red lightning towards them, but the doors closed just before they were hit.

Now, Reese wasn't normally one bothered by silence. Most of the time, she adored it. But, right now, as elevator music poured in through speakers that she wasn't able to see, she found the quiet a bit awkward, but Reese was never one to initiate a conversation, whether it was with someone she knew or not.

Finally, Kent Nelson glanced over his shoulder at them.

"Oh, uh, I'm Kent Nelson, by the way," he introduced himself, and Wally frowned.

"No duh," the redhead muttered, but then winced as both Reese and Artemis sent jabs into both sides of his ribs.

"I'm Reese," the brunette answered. "That's Artemis, and _Miss Manners_ over here is Wally,"

"Well, Reese, Artemis" Kent chuckled, nodding towards the both of them. "We're up against an opponent with _tremendous_ mystic power,"

" _Abra Kadabra_?" Wally asked, scoffing. "Tch, Flash proved he uses futuristic technology to _simulate_ magic. The guy's all show and no biz,"

"He's not _talking_ about _Kadabra_ , KF," Reese muttered, crossing her arms as Kent glanced over at her approvingly.

"Correct, Miss Queen," he answered, and all three of them stared at the older man.

"How'd you know my last name?" Reese asked, but Kent only gave an enigmatic smile, before completely changing the subject back to Kadabra.

"Abra is a charlatan. But, Klarion the Witch-Boy, the kid with the cat, he's an _actual_ Lord of Chaos. The ultimate enemy of a Lord of Order like Doctor Fate,"

"I've heard of him," Reese realized, and as Artemis and Wally both turned to stare at her, their faces undeniably confused, the brunette shrugged. "Robin and I look over old case files sometimes,"

Artemis' face suddenly turned undeniably smug, and Reese glowered. She lurched forward and pointed one finger in Artemis' face, making sure that the blonde archer kept her mouth shut.

"You say _anything_ ," Reese growled, her voice too low for Wally or Kent to hear. "I will make sure that everyone finds out who you are, got it?"

Artemis' eyes widened. "You know?" she whispered, and Reese narrowed her eyes.

"I won't say anything now," she relented. "Everyone deserves their privacy. If you stop bugging me about my non-existent love life, then I won't say anything," With that, the two of them turned back to Wally and Kent, just as Kent was explaining the difference between an _actual_ Lord of Order...and him.

"Oh, no," the old man was saying, one hand braced against his suit jacket. "Not me. I'm just an old coat Fate used to put on. Until my wife, Inza convinced me there could be more to life," Kent took out a small pocket watch from his, uh, _pocket_ , and clicked it open, revealing an aged photo of a beautiful woman. Inza, presumably. "Ah, she was a _real_ pistol, that Inza. Anywho, Klarion's after the Helmet. If he gets his sticky little mitts on it, he'll turn the planet into his own personal playground of pandemonium,"

"That sounds _wonderful_ ," Reese muttered sarcastically in response, just before the elevator doors dinged, and they slid open, revealing a room with more twisting staircases, and a bell.

Like, this bell was _huge_. Easily fifty feet across, and taller than probably four Batman's. When they reached the top of the staircase, above which the bell hung, another doorway of light opened up, just before Kaldur and Superboy fell through. M'gann, on the other hand, hovered down lightly before landing on her feet.

"Friends of yours?" Nelson spoke up, as Artemis and Wally ran over to the others. Reese moved to follow them, but Kent Nelson reaching out and gently grabbing her wrist stopped the brunette in her tracks.

The twelve-year-old girl, who was just naturally suspicious of people, stared warily up at the man before Kent reached down and turned her hand so it was palm-up.

Then, he reached into another pocket of his suit pants, grabbing something from there and pressing his closed fist into Reese's hand. For about two seconds, he kept it like that, before opening his hands, and Reese felt two similarly-shaped objects fall into her hand.

Glancing down at her palm, Reese raised an eyebrow when she saw what Kent had given her. A pair of flat golden arrowheads lay against each other in her hand, the metallic surface glittering in whatever light the Tower of Fate possessed. Reese glanced up at Kent, confused, but the man only gave her a small smile.

"Your friend over there," the man began, jerking his head towards Wally. "The redhead? He's not a believer, is he?" Reese, despite the fact that Kadabra and Klarion were bound to show up any second, found herself laughing.

"No," she answered, giving a small smile. "He's a man of science. Not magic,"

"But, _you_ , my dear," Kent continued. "You believe, don't you?"

"Yes," Reese answered simply, giving a small nod of her head. "I do,"

"Then, that is why I am giving you these," Kent continued, pointing one gnarled finger towards the arrowheads that lay in Reese's palm. "They are an ancient artifact that has been used between a pair of individuals for thousands of years, to send secret messages across great distances and enemy lines,"

Reese became even more confused as Nelson continued to explain the use of these arrowheads, and she stared up at the man.

"Why are you giving me these?" she asked but closed her fist around the arrowheads anyway. "How do they work?"

"Call it intuition," Kent supplied, giving another one of his enigmatic looks before he tapped his finger against her hand again, and Reese opened her palm again. "These will only work with you, and one other. This person needs to be someone you trust whole-heartedly, the person you trust with your life. Unless you fully trust the recipient of the other arrowhead, the messaging system will not work,"

Despite it, the first person that Reese thought of...the _only_ person that Reese fully and _whole-heartedly_ trusted with her life...was Dick. Now, the brunette figured that she probably should've thought of Roy, or maybe even Oliver, but she didn't.

Oddly enough, the first person she thought of was Robin.

What did that say about her priorities?

Before she, or Kent, for that matter, could say anything more, about the arrowheads or otherwise, a bolt of lightning was suddenly flying towards them, and both Reese and Kent were knocked to the side, as Wally tackled them both.

Quickly, Reese slipped the two arrowheads into the pocket of her faux-leather jacket and zipped it up so they wouldn't fall out. She did _not_ want to lose these.

"Friends of yours?" Wally asked Kent, reiterating the comment from earlier.

Reese then rolled backward, towards Artemis, M'gann, Superboy, and Kaldur, before having to scatter again as the five of them needed to dodge a lightning bolt.

Kent and Wally, on the other hand, stood to their feet, and Kent walked right up to the massive bell, took his cane, and whacked it against the side, a ' _gong_ ' sound resonating through the entire room and making Reese's ears ring.

The two of them walked inside the bell, and Klarion flew up into the air, following them. Reese shot an arrow straight to the Lord of Chaos, hoping to knock him out of the air, but the Witch-Boy only waved a hand, and the arrow exploded into a cloud of red sparks.

Reese wasn't entirely sure _what_ was going on with Wally and Kent inside the bell, but Kadabra, despite the fact that he possessed no _real_ magical abilities, was still putting up one hell of a fight, and Reese's arrow supply was dwindling.

' _Wally!'_ M'gann called to the speedster over the psychic link. ' _We're in trouble!'_

' _KF!'_ Reese shouted herself, while also letting loose a Canary Cry, but the sonic scream barely deterred the futuristic villain. ' _Tell Kent that we need Doctor Fate!_ '

Suddenly, Kadabra shot a bolt of lightning towards her, and the brunette was engulfed in a net of flickering blue electricity, and the shock that came with it brought back unwanted memories of Cadmus.

She dropped her bow, giving a human scream, rather than a sonic one, as she felt the electricity running through her body, amping everything up to 100, though her senses were so overwhelmed with the stimuli that Reese found herself unable to focus on anything.

Reese was able to feel herself weakening and fell onto her hands and knees, the electrical net conforming with her so there was no room for her to move.

Suddenly, through the sparking weave of the net, Reese saw a golden ankh made of light appear behind Kadabra before suddenly the villain was standing there in only his underwear.

The net around her disappeared, and as Reese struggled to catch her breath, and for her senses to dial back down to normal, she saw Superboy stand to his feet in front of Kadabra.

"Show's over," the genomorph grumbled, before throwing his fist right into Kadabra's face, knocking the villain onto his back, where Kadabra then lay, knocked out cold.

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
** **August 20, 03:48 EDT**

When Wally had come back alone from...wherever he had gone, Reese had already begun to prepare for the worst.

The redhead hadn't specifically said what happened to him when he had to put on the helmet, but Reese had a feeling that, despite the _ample_ evidence pointing to magic's existence, the red-haired speedster still didn't believe in it.

The Helmet of Fate, considering its previous owner was now dead, and could no longer look after it, was now in the Team's possession, and Wally had just gone to put it in his ' _souvenir room_ '.

Reese, on the other hand, was inside her room in Mount Justice, far too tired to walk into the Zeta tube and go home. She had already called Ollie, so this time, he knew where she was, rather than her running away to Gotham like she had when he had introduced her to Artemis for the first time.

Speaking of Artemis, Reese felt _terrible_ for what she had said to the blonde in the elevator. She hadn't meant it, not really, she had just been really wound up at the time.

Why _did_ people always think she and Robin were dating? It wasn't like they spent _that_ much time together, was it?

Before Reese could overthink it anymore, there was a soft knock on the door, and when she strained her ears to listen for the person's heartbeat, Reese recognized it as Artemis'.

Each member of the Team had their own unique heartbeat rhythm, and Reese had been around them for a long enough period of time to differentiate between each of them.

Walking over, Reese pressed the button that opened her door, and the slab of metal slid open, revealing a tired-looking Artemis standing just beyond it. Before the blonde could speak, since Reese already knew why she was here, the twelve-year-old cut the older girl off by holding up a hand.

"I know what you're going to say," she began. "But, first, _I_ wanted to say that I'm sorry. I had no right to threaten you as I did. I was just--just so _mad_ about you and M'gann teasing me about Robin, that I didn't think. I don't do that when I'm angry. Robin says it makes me reckless,"

"Look," Artemis began, running one hand through her hair. "I'm not...very good at this. At apologizing, but I _also_ wanted to say that I'm sorry. You were right earlier, we're each entitled to our own private lives, and if you don't dig into mine, I won't dig into yours,"

Despite herself, Reese winced. "Yeah," she said slowly, wringing her hands together and staring at her feet. "About that...I _kinda_ , maybe, sorta already did a background check on you after the whole Roquette situation,"

Artemis' eyes widened, and Reese quickly waved her hands around.

"I won't tell anyone!" she exclaimed quickly, deciding at the last second to _not_ tell Artemis that Robin was the one she asked for a background check. "I promise,"

Artemis still looked immensely wary, but finally gave a solid nod, before walking away again. As soon as she was gone, Reese slammed her hand down on the button, and her door slid closed.

Reese leaned her back against it and heaved a deep breath before she opened her eyes again, and the brown pools landed on the nightstand that was next to her bed, on top of which lay the two golden arrowheads she received from Kent Nelson.

Sure, the man had told her how they worked, but Reese wasn't really sure how you _got_ them to work, Kent hadn't gotten that far in the explanation.

He had told her that one would work with her, the other with the person she trusted whole-heartedly. Not the other way around. So, Reese had a 50/50 chance of picking the one that worked with her.

She reached out and straightened the two arrowheads, staring down at the golden objects, biting her lip as she struggled to figure out which one was hers, so to speak.

Reese hovered her hand over one of them, reaching down to grab it before changing her mind at the last second and switching to the other one.

Nothing exploded when she grabbed it, so Reese counted that as a plus. Immediately, the arrowhead warmed in her palm, and for some reason, Reese didn't think it had anything to do with natural body heat.

There was a tingle, and Reese opened her palm, staring down at the glittering bladed object, a split second before the base of the arrowhead popped open, revealing a small rolled-up piece of paper.

Using her fingernails, Reese pulled it out, and she unfurled it, revealing...nothing.

The paper was empty. Reese even climbed up onto her bed and held it up to the ceiling light in case there was somehow invisible ink, but the paper stayed white and empty. Reese slipped the paper back into the arrowhead before she slid the other one into the corner o her nightstand, just so didn't actually grab the wrong one.

She wasn't entirely sure yet what they did, but what Reese did know was that it seemed like, if they were really as valuable as Kent had said, she knew that she couldn't let him down.

Kent Nelson had trusted her with these, and as soon as she had given the other one to Dick, Reese intended to not break that trust.


	13. 11. Downtime

**S T A R C I T Y  
August 26, 18:00 PDT**

The two of them met in a park.

Earlier that evening, at around five-thirty Star City time, Reese had called Dick, asking if the young Boy Wonder would be able to meet her in one of Star City's nicer parks, and saying they had to talk about something important.

Dick dropped what he was doing without a thought and quickly Zeta-ed across the country, appearing in an abandoned phone booth close to Oliver's apartment, which was about three blocks from where he and Reese had decided to meet up.

It was, by now, late August, and considering Star City was in California, the nights were cooler, around sixty degrees Fahrenheit.

When he entered the main park area, Dick was able to see the top of Reese's head from where the brunette was sitting on a bench nearby, shifting something in her hand, and Dick was able to hear what sounded like metal clinking together.

"What are you doing?" he asked suddenly, vaulting over the back of the bench and landing beside Reese, causing the girl to let out a small scream that made a nearby streetlamp crack.

Clearly, she hadn't noticed he was there. Reese must be distracted, Dick figured, since her enhanced senses weren't able to detect him earlier.

"Don't _do_ that!" she exclaimed, and Dick glanced skeptically up at the streetlamp, and when he was sure it wasn't going to shatter all over them, the Boy Wonder turned back to his friend.

"You didn't hear me coming?" he asked, laughing a bit, but stopped when he noticed her morose face. "Hey, pretty bird," Dick began again, reaching out a hand and setting it on Reese's own. "You okay?"

"What?" Reese asked, her eyes looking dazed for a moment before they cleared. "Oh, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about anything,"

"Rhysalin, I've known you long enough to know when something's wrong," Dick told her slowly. "Please, talk to me,"

For several seconds, Reese didn't say anything. She instead opted to stare out at the park, and the various pedestrians that were walking around. Finally, she sighed, and looked down at her lap, shuffling her feet together.

"Tomorrow's the anniversary," when Reese spoke, her voice was so quiet, Dick had to strain to hear it. But, when he did, he suddenly felt bad for pushing the brunette as much as he did.

The anniversary. It had, come tomorrow, been four years since Reese's parents and baby sister had died in the apartment fire set by Desmond.

The weird thing was though, the Star City Police Department had never found a body that matched that of seven-month-old Lauren. Not even a bone fragment. It was odd, to say the least.

Dick couldn't believe he'd forgotten about it. He supposed they had all been so preoccupied with the Team being formed, and Roy going off by himself, that the impending anniversary had just slipped his mind.

"Pretty bird, I'm sorry," Dick whispered, his voice soft, and Reese shrugged her shoulders, pulling her legs up over the bench so she was able to set her chin on her knee.

"It's fine," Reese answered, though the words, at this point, seemed almost like a reflex. "Dinah's been talking to me about it. She and Ollie are giving me the day off from hero work tomorrow so I can _process_ things, I guess,"

"You want me to come with you?" Dick asked, and when Reese glanced over at him, looking a bit confused, the Boy Wonder clarified. "I mean, tomorrow. When you...visit them,"

For a few seconds, all of which Reese didn't speak, Dick feared he had overstepped. Sure, they had known each other for almost five years, but he'd never gone _with_ Reese to visit the graves of her parents before.

"Sure," she answered, and Dick's eyes widened a bit. Honestly, he hadn't thought she'd say yes.

"You really want me to?" he asked, and Reese gave a small nod.

"I think," she began softly. "If you had met them, they would have really liked you,"

"My parents would've liked you too," Dick whispered, a soft smile curling his lip, and Reese gave a half-smile in return.

"Okay," Reese said after a few minutes of silence. "Now, aside from the fact that both of our lives are thoroughly depressing, I want to show you something,"

Dick raised an eyebrow as Reese reached into the pocket of her thin denim jacket, pulling out two small objects. His confusion grew when he recognized the object as what looked like... _golden arrowheads_?

"What are these?" he asked, pointing at the arrowheads, and the space between Reese's eyebrows creased.

"Honestly?" she asked. "I'm not entirely sure. Kent Nelson, before he died, that is, gave them to me and said they were some sort of ancient magical communication... _thing_. He didn't really get to explain much before Abra Kadabra attacked us,"

"Abra Kadabra attacked you?" Dick echoed, but Reese only sent him a dry look.

"Yes," she answered simply, raising an eyebrow. "Boy Wonder, you knew this,"

"Oh, right," Dick answered, feeling his cheeks flush in embarrassment. "Sorry," he scooted over so he was closer to Reese, and gently tapped on one of the arrowheads. "So, how do they work?"

Reese used her other hand to hand one of the arrowheads to Dick, while she held onto the other one.

"Watch this," she said, looking a bit giddy, and Dick counted that as a welcome improvement from earlier when she'd been sad about her parents.

Then, Dick watched as Reese closed her palm around the arrowhead she was holding. After a moment, there was a subtle click, and Reese opened her palm again, revealing that the round base of the arrowhead's short shaft had popped open, revealing what looked like a rolled-up piece of paper.

Reese slid it out and unfurled it. Dick narrowed his eyes when he noticed that the paper was blank.

As if she could sense that he was feeling confused, Reese only sent Dick a smile, before she held out a simple ballpoint pen.

"I've been practicing," she said simply. Practicing what exactly, Dick wasn't entirely sure, but, if Reese knew what she was doing, then that was something, he supposed.

He wasn't able to see what she wrote on the small piece of paper, but as soon as she was done, Reese rolled the paper up again and pushed it back into the arrowhead.

Not even ten seconds later, and the arrowhead that Dick himself was holding suddenly seemed to vibrate in his hand, and when the Boy Wonder glanced down at it, a bit confused, the bottom of his arrowhead had popped open, revealing a rolled-up piece of paper.

When he unfurled it, Dick found himself reading three simple words.

_Cool, isn't it?_

"Whoa," he breathed out in awe, and beside him, Reese gave an excited nod.

"I know, right?" she asked. "I know I said that Kent said that these were some sort of ancient magical communicating device, but this--this is beyond cool!"

"Can we try something?" Dick asked suddenly as an idea appeared in his head, and Reese nodded. "Where's the nearest Zeta tube to here?"

Reese thought for a moment before she shrugged. "Probably the one you used," the brunette girl admitted. "Three blocks south,"

"Okay," Dick answered, getting up again. "You wait here. I'll be right back,"

Then, though Reese still looked a bit confused, she stayed sitting on the bench as Dick left the park, darting into the alley where he'd been earlier, and punched in some coordinates on the Zeta tube's hidden keypad.

**_Recognized Robin B-0-1_ **

When Dick stepped out of the Zeta tube, he was back in Gotham City, or more accurately, the Batcave. Bruce and Alfred were off doing whatever, so Dick was alone.

The Boy Wonder then dug the golden arrowhead out of his pocket and took out the empty piece of paper. He swiped one of Bruce's pens off of the Batcomputer's desk and wrote a quick message, before tossing the pen back again and stuffing the paper back into the arrowhead.

_Does it work?_

_Yes_ , Reese answered a few seconds later, and Dick found himself grinning. _Where are you?_

_Gotham. I wanted to see how long of a distance these things would work with._

_They're magic, aren't they? So what if they don't have a distance limit?_

Dick had to admit, Reese had a point. So, after sticking the magic arrowhead back in his pocket, Robin headed back to Star City, where he met up with Reese outside the park.

"So, what do you think?" Reese asked as soon as she saw him walking towards her.

Dick shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "Well," he began. "I _suppose_ it's pretty cool,"

"You suppose?" Reese echoed, grinning, and Dick laughed.

"You're right," he conceded. " _Definitely_ feeling the aster with these things,"

As they began to walk down the street, Dick couldn't help but hope there was something he could do to make Reese feel better about tomorrow.

It was hard to feel the aster when both of your parents had just been murdered. He must have zoned out a bit, because the next thing Dick knew, he and Reese were outside Oliver's front door, and Reese was going inside.

Okay, that was a bit weird, Dick thought to himself. Why _did_ he keep zoning out? He supposed he was just tired. Robin and Batman _had_ been working pretty hard lately, maybe it was just that.

Since Green Arrow and Black Canary had some Justice League business to attend to, and Roy was at his own apartment, _and_ the Team wasn't currently on a mission, Dick and Reese were the only ones inside the apartment.

As Reese walked to the fridge, Dick leaned over the ceramic island separating the kitchen from the rest of the apartment, and stared rather directly, mind you, at the shorter brunette as she pulled a bottle of orange juice from the refrigerator.

When she noticed him staring at her, Reese paused. "What?" she asked, and Dick sighed. He knew when Reese was bottling up her feelings, burying them deep down inside where she left them to simmer until the pot boiled over, but this was ridiculous.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay?" he asked finally, and this time, Reese was the one who sighed.

"I told you, Dick," she began, grabbing a glass from the cupboard and setting it on the counter. "I'm fine. It's been four years. If anything, I'd gotten over it as soon as we caught Blockbuster inside Cadmus,"

Now, if Dick hadn't been the protege of Batman for the last four years, he might have believed her. As it were, he was still Robin, the Boy Wonder, and he also knew when Reese was lying.

"Pretty bird, you can't fool me," he said slowly. "Listen, I understand if you don't want to talk about it, lord knows how well Bruce is at listening to other people's problems, but I'm _not_ Batman. I'm listening,"

"Fine," Reese conceded, setting her glass of orange juice down and sitting on the barstool next to Dick, her face looking a whole lot less giddy than when they'd been back at the park, figuring out how the golden arrowheads worked. "What do you want to know?"

"I want to know if you're _okay_ ," Dick admitted. "Rhysalin, I understand what it's like to lose your parents right in front of you. You don't need to bottle this up,"

"Did you know my mother was originally from Bulgaria?" the abrupt subject change made Dick pause, and for a moment all he was able to do was blink, before shaking his head and speaking again.

"I think you've told me maybe once before," he admitted. "Why are you asking me?"

Reese shrugged. "She immigrated to the States when she was eighteen. Before she died, my mother taught me the language, and in a way, before I learned that I was able to speak _every_ language, I grew up speaking both English _and_ Bulgarian. There--There was also this saying that my parents used to say to each other..."

She trailed off, and Dick had a feeling that, if he were anyone else, Reese wouldn't be telling him this right now. It was bad enough that the anniversary was tomorrow, but he suddenly felt bad for making Reese essentially relive it.

"Rhysalin, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he tried to reason with her, but Reese was already shaking her head.

"No, no, no," she said quickly. "I want to. And, I think I kinda have to get this off my chest. The quote was always spoken _in_ Bulgarian, and it was this," For a moment, Reese paused, and when she spoke again there was a faint accent in her voice before she switched back to English. " _Lyubovta e energiyata na zhivota_. It means 'love is the energy of life'. In a way, after my parents died, it became my mantra,"

"You thought of it every time you thought of your family," Dick whispered, realizing the significance of the short quote, and Reese glanced at him through her thick eyelashes, nodding.

"I know it's silly," Reese whispered as she began to stand up, and Dick's eyes widened. He quickly flashed a hand out and set it on top of Reese's, stopping her before she hopped off the stool.

"No!" Dick said quickly, before realizing that his voice was maybe a _bit_ too loud, and he quieted down a bit. "No, pretty bird, it's not. It's amazing you still have something to remember them by,"

Reese opened her mouth to say something, what Dick wasn't entirely sure, but before she could say anything, both of their commlinks, which were in their ears should they ever be needed, buzzed, just as Red Tornado's voice came through.

" _Red Tornado to Robin and Silverbird. Batman has requested your presence at the cave. It seems to be urgent,_ " After the android had hung up, Dick sighed.

"We can talk later," Reese told him, but Dick only scrunched his eyebrows together.

"You're sure?" he asked skeptically, and the brunette nodded as she made her way towards the door.

"Positive,"

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
August 27, 07:58 EDT**

Well, that was a complete and utter _disaster_ , Silverbird thought as she and the rest of the team exited the Zeta tube back into Mount Justice, all of them covered head-to-toe in icky brown muck.

The seven of them had just lost spectacularly against Clayface in Gotham City, losing against the mud monster so bad _Batman_ had to come and save them.

If that wasn't bad enough, Kaldur had been thoroughly distracted on the mission. So much so that Reese almost blamed the Atlantean for how bad the mission had gone.

Almost, but Reese supposed that would be a bit hypocritical, since, if she were being completely honest, Silverbird wasn't supposed to _be_ on this mission in the first place, considering what day it was, but Batman had said it was an emergency, so here she was, stinking like the Gotham sewers and wishing she was anywhere else.

"I need to talk to Aqualad," Batman said firmly. "The rest of you hit the showers and head home,"

"I _am_ home," Superboy muttered as he walked past the Dark Knight, and as she too passed Bruce, Reese glanced over her shoulder at Robin, who had paused beside Kaldur.

" _Just_ Aqualad," Batman clarified, and Reese winced as Aqualad and Robin glanced at each other, before Dick walked behind his mentor, heading along with everyone else towards the showers.

Silverbird fell in step beside her friend but stopped herself from saying anything when she saw the way Robin was fuming. It wasn't often that Batman passed his protege over for someone else, and Reese had a feeling what had just happened was wearing down on Dick's ego. So, Reese held back, and she walked away.

It looked like this year she'd be visiting her parents alone.

**S T A R C I T Y  
** **August 27, 11:30 PDT**

Six-and-a-half hours later, after she had taken a shower and gotten all of the Clayface-mud out of her hair, Reese, dressed in civvies, was now sitting in the backseat of Oliver's car, staring out the window as her adoptive father drove to the Royal Memorial Cemetery on the outskirts of Star City, where Reese's parents and baby sister were buried.

"You sure you don't want to call him?" Oliver's voice jerked Reese from her thoughts and the brunette tilted her head from where it had been leaning against the window to look at the blond man in the drivers' seat.

Reese didn't need to be friends with a telepath to know who Ollie was talking about.

"Nope," she answered simply, going back to stare out the window again. "I get it. He's busy. Bruce is probably working Dick into the ground at the moment,"

"He should still have come with you," Ollie said, but Reese only shrugged.

"He was mad after Clayface," she began. "I get that. We were all mad. I'm just giving him time to cool off,"

"Seven hours' time?" Ollie asked, and Reese glared at him, but before she could retort with anything, the wrought iron gates that encircled the cemetery appeared in front of the windshield, and both Oliver and Reese stopped talking.

The main road that went into the cemetery wasn't paved with asphalt and was instead gravel, so the car's tires crunched over the compacted rocks as they entered the depressing scene.

"You know, I could stay with you if you wanted?" Ollie asked as Reese got out of the car, and the brunette gave a small, sad smile towards her adoptive father, but shook her head all the same.

"I'll be alright," she said, and gently laid a hand on Ollie's when she noticed that he still looked skeptical. "I promise,"

" _Okay_..." Oliver conceded finally. "I'll pick you up then in a few hours, alright? And then we can just have a movie night later. Maybe I'll even convince Roy to show up,"

"Sounds good," Reese answered softly before Oliver suddenly got out of the car and wrapped his arms around her in a hug that distinctly made Reese think of _home_.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to save them that night," Ollie whispered, and Reese tightened her grip on his jacket as she clenched her eyes shut, feeling tears gather in the corners.

"It's okay," she said, her voice choked-up as she reminisced about _that night_. "You saved me,"

"I did," Oliver reiterated, before bending down and placing a kiss on the top of Reese's head. "Your parents would be _so_ proud of you, sweetheart. I know I am,"

Then, Oliver got back in his car, and as Reese wiped the few tears that had escaped her eyes with the heel of her hand, she watched her adoptive father drive away.

Taking a deep breath, Reese swallowed down the lump in her throat, before she turned around and began her now-familiar walk towards her parents' and baby sister's headstones.

Four columns across, five rows up. She sat down heavily in front of the marble memorials, lightly fingering the names and dates on each of them.

**_Lorelai Dana Andonov-Michaels  
_ ** **_April 15, 1970--August 27, 2006_ **

**_Derrick Spencer Michaels  
_ ** **_July 1, 1964--August 27, 2006_ **

**_Lauren Delilah Michaels  
_ ** **_January 27, 2006--August 27, 2006_ **

"Hey," Reese said quietly as she sat crisscrossed on the neatly clipped grass in front of the gravestones. "I know it's been a while since we last talked. But, you wouldn't believe what's happened since last year. A... _friend_ was supposed to come with me today, but he couldn't make it. You would've liked him though,"

As she told her parents and baby sister everything that had happened since the last anniversary, everything with the Team, and Cadmus, and finding out that Desmond was the one to set the fire, a thought suddenly shot through Reese's head, and she paused.

When she, as Silverbird, had been with Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Superboy inside Cadmus, just before Desmond had appeared again and taken the Project: BLOCKBUSTER formula, Jim Harper, Guardian, had given Reese a letter.

A letter which she still hadn't opened. Truthfully, Reese had forgotten about it, with everything else that was going on. She figured she'd just open it when she got home.

Slipping her hand into her jacket pocket, Reese then pulled out the golden arrowhead that Kent Nelson had given her, and also pulled out a pen.

_I know you're probably mad about Aqualad,_ she wrote on the paper. _But, please Boy Wonder, come to Star City. I need a friend right about now._

**G O T H A M C I T Y  
** **August 27, 20:04 EDT**

To say Dick was seething would be an understatement. What was so important about Aqualad that Bruce couldn't key him in on it? They were partners, weren't they? Or at least, Dick _thought_ they had been partners.

So, to vent out his frustration at the world, at Kaldur, and at Batman, for that matter, the young Boy Wonder had taken to the gymnastics rings, flipping on them over and over and over again.

" _Just...Aqualad..._ " Dick grumbled as he balanced himself between the two rings, sweat dripping down the side of his head. He didn't know how long he had been working out, but he figured it had been at least a couple of hours.

He flipped over the rings one more time before letting go and landing on a nearby cylindrical practice dummy. Unfortunately, his foot wobbled, and in order to keep from falling to the floor, Dick backflipped again until he hit the back wall.

He stood still for a second before Dick turned and punched the wall, making spiderweb cracks appear within the rock.

Walking away from the now-damaged wall, Dick moved over to a nearby bench, setting a white towel around his shoulders and picking up his water bottle, taking a sip from it just before a brisk cough sounded from the door to the training room.

Dick glanced to the side to see Alfred standing in the doorway, prim and proper.

"Master Bruce wishes to see you," the butler said, and Dick sighed heavily before he stood up, following Alfred outside.

As he walked outside, Dick's hands flew up in front of him in time to catch a basketball mere moments before it would've hit him in the face. Even stranger, Bruce was standing in front of him, sans the Batman costume for once, and was instead dressed in regular workout gear.

"What's this?" Dick asked incredulously, but Bruce only put his hands on his hips and almost seemed to _smile_.

"Training," Robin's mentor said simply. "Hand-eye coordination,"

"One on one?" Dick asked, and Bruce tilted his head.

"If you think you can handle it,"

For the next hour or so, Dick had fun, or, as much fun as you can have when playing one on one basketball with the Batman when a thought suddenly shot through the Boy Wonder's mind, and Dick skidded to a stop, only for Bruce to pass the ball at the same time, and for it to knock into the back of Dick's head, knocking him forward.

"What time is it?" Dick whispered, brushing off Bruce's hand when he tried to see if his ward was alright.

"What?" Bruce asked, looking oddly confused, as Dick's eyes widened even further.

"Bruce, what time is it?" Dick had promised Reese he'd go with her to see her parents earlier, but now, considering it was dark in Gotham City...he was such an idiot.

"Master Dick," Alfred's voice made Dick turn around, to see the British butler looking at him with a mixture of disapproval and smugness, which was a weird combination, to say the least. "I do believe, in Star City, it is about six in the evening,"

" _Six_?" Dick echoed, and Alfred gave a small nod.

Ignoring Alfred and Bruce further, Dick burst back into Wayne Manor, not bothering to change out of his workout gear, and instead went right into the Batcave's Zeta tube.

**_Recognized Robin B-0-1_ **

In Star City, the sun was just beginning to set, and hoping to hell that Oliver wouldn't kill him on sight, Dick sprinted the two-and-a-half blocks it was to the Queens' apartment building, and then up the ten flights of stairs to the apartment.

Normally, if he wasn't already tired from working out, and then playing another hour's worth of basketball, Dick wouldn't even be winded, but by the time he reached Reese's front door, he was breathing hard.

He pounded on the door with his fist about six times in quick succession, before leaning his head against the cool wood and trying to catch his breath. But, before he was able to back up, the door opened, and Dick fell forward onto Oliver Queen's welcome mat.

"Dick?" a voice asked, and the Boy Wonder glanced up to find a surprised Dinah Lance staring down at him.

He popped up from his spot on the floor and tried to explain to Black Canary what was going on, but he didn't exactly breathe between his words, so Dinah looked fairly confused.

"Okay, Dick," the blonde woman said slowly, setting her hands on the thirteen-year-old's shoulders and making sure he met her eyes. "I need you to _slow_ _down_ ,"

Trying to stay true to her words, Dick took a few deep breaths, before he straightened up again and spoke.

"Where's Reese?" he managed to get out from between deep breaths, only this time, it wasn't Dinah who answered him.

It was Ollie.

"In her room," the Emerald Archer had appeared in the doorway that led to the kitchen, where Dick had been about twenty-four hours earlier.

And to say Oliver looked mad would be a _gross_ understatement.

Dick gave Reese's adoptive father a nervous smile before he quickly scurried down the adjoining hallway, before entering the third door on the right, which in turn led to Reese's bedroom.

Her walls were a pale yellow color, and polaroid pictures were strung up above her bed. Pictures of her and him, of her and Ollie, of her and Roy.

There was a writing desk set up in one corner of the room, where Reese did her homework for Dinah's homeschooling, and that was where the brunette archer sat now, holding what looked to be a sheet of paper in both of her hands.

"I'm sorry," Dick said as soon as the door had shut behind him, and he winced as he saw Reese's entire body tense before she turned to look at him, and Dick felt even worse when he noticed that she had been crying.

"Where were you?" Reese whispered as she got up from her desk, paper still clenched in her fist, and Dick's words died in his throat. How was he supposed to tell her he'd forgotten? That he'd been playing _basketball_ with Bruce for the last hour? _Basketball_ , of all things.

"I--" his throat was so dry, Dick could barely talk.

But, it turned out, he didn't need to. Reese just wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder, tears instantly soaking the top of Dick's workout tank. As Dick returned Reese's hug, he gently grabbed her left hand and pried the sheet of paper from her fist, holding it up so he'd be able to read it.

"What's this?" he asked quietly, but Reese only held onto him tighter, shaking her head. Dick scrunched his eyebrows together at Reese's reaction before he looked down at the sheet of paper, reading the words that were written there.

Written there, Dick quickly realized, by Reese's own father.

_My daughter,  
If you are reading this, it means Desmond has most likely killed both myself and your mother, and I am so sorry that we were taken from you, sweetheart.  
_ _But, however much Mark Desmond thinks he has won, I assure you, it is the exact opposite. The weekend we went to Haley's Circus, the night you met the Grayson boy, I had also brought you to my workplace at Project: Cadmus in Washington D.C.  
_ _I am a research scientist there, one that studies genetic mutations within humans, and Reese, we found a genetic mutation within your DNA. It is unlike anything we've ever seen before, except when studying prior DNA gathered from superheroes who were seemingly born with their powers, rather than gaining them from some other means.  
_ _At the time of this letter being written, I am not certain what this means, or what this genetic mutation is fully capable of.  
_ _Because of this, I developed a serum that would almost...jump-start the mutation in your DNA, and give you remarkable abilities, like that of the heroes of the Justice League.  
_ _We perfected the serum that same night of the circus, and you would begin to notice your abilities a few months later. The research is crude though, and hopefully, in the future, the process will be able to be faster.  
_ _If you hate me after reading this letter, I would fully understand, but you must know Rhysalin, that I have always loved you.  
_ _Everything I did, was to protect you._  
_Love,  
_ _Your Dad_

"Pretty bird..." Dick murmured once he had finished reading the short letter, but Reese didn't let go of him. "I'm so sorry,"

"Well," Reese said quietly. "At least now we know how I got my powers,"

"They're pretty cool," Dick whispered, trying to lighten the mood, and fortunately, he then felt Reese smile against his shoulder.

"Yeah," she said softly. "Pretty cool,"


	14. 12. Bereft

**B I A L Y A  
September 4, 19:55 EEST**

To say Silverbird's head hurt would be a gross understatement.

When Reese blinked her eyes open, the first thing she noticed was that it was _hot._ Hot and--and _sandy_. As if she were in a desert, which was weird because the last thing Reese remembered was going to a St. Patrick's Day parade in Star City with Roy and Oliver.

The second thing she noticed was that she was, in fact, in a desert. A vast expanse of open sand and rocky outcroppings that was _definitely_ not Star City.

Where was she?

Silverbird opened her mouth, to call out or Canary Cry she wasn't entirely sure yet, but she didn't need to worry about figuring out, because her throat was so dry she wasn't able to make a sound.

What had she done, swallowed a gallon of sand?

Wearily, Reese pulled herself to her feet, leaning against a column of rock in order to catch her breath, when she suddenly heard footsteps come from the other side of the rock.

Not knowing whether or not the newcomer was friend or foe, Silverbird took out her bow and nocked an arrow, waiting a few seconds more before she whipped around the column of rock, only to find herself pointing an arrow straight at Robin.

"Don't shoot!" he exclaimed quickly, holding up both of his hands, and Reese felt herself let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Pretty bird, it's me!"

"Robin?" she asked, her voice a bit raspy from the sand that had been scraping against it, and Dick let out a series of bobblehead nods. "What are you doing here?"

Dick only shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine," he said, but before either of them could say anything more, Silverbird caught the sound of tires coming towards them.

Apparently, Robin heard them too, because he grabbed her hand and dragged Reese up the cliff with him, the two of them ducking behind an alcove about halfway up the rock just as a Humvee drove by, soldiers standing on the sides.

The weird thing was, Silverbird _recognized_ those uniforms. And also, it seemed, did Robin.

"Those are Bialyan Republican Army uniforms," Dick whispered as Reese peered over the rock, watching as the Humvee and soldiers drove away. "But, what are Bialyans doing in... _Bialya_!"

Silverbird glanced over her shoulder as Robin pulled up his holo-computer, the map that appeared showcasing that the two of them were, in fact, in Bialya.

_Uh-oh_ , Reese thought. This was bad, this was really, _really_ bad.

"I think I have a better question than that, Boy Wonder," Reese murmured hoarsely as she stared at the holo-map before looking again towards Dick. "What are _we_ doing in Bialya?"

"In September?" Robin added, noticing the date on the bottom of the map. "What happened to March?" Dick then reached for his commlink. "Better radio Batman,"

"Wait," Silverbird said quickly, grabbing onto Robin's gloved hand before he was able to tap his commlink as a thought ran through her head. She couldn't remember where from, frankly, she couldn't remember much at all, but Reese _distinctly_ remembered Batman telling her and Robin to " _maintain radio silence at all times._ ".

Silverbird wasn't entirely sure whether or not that was viable at the moment, but if Batman was worried about it, it'd probably be best if they didn't disobey him.

"Maybe you should...hold off on calling Batman," Reese said, still holding onto Dick's hand before it was able to connect his commlink. Robin gave a slow nod before he flipped off the alcove he and Silverbird were currently perched on, Reese following a few seconds later.

When she landed on the sand, Silverbird noticed that Robin had walked over to a small rock, picking up what looked like a piece of fabric that had been sitting there.

"What's that?" Reese asked softly, her voice still a bit scratchy, but all Dick did was shake his head.

"I'm not sure," he answered, before holding the fabric out towards her. Warily, Silverbird grabbed it, immediately recognizing the familiar red shield.

"Superman?" she asked, but Robin only shrugged.

"When have you ever known Superman to wear black?" he questioned, and Reese had to admit that Dick had a point.

"Well, then," she retorted, crossing her arms. "What do _you_ think is going on here?"

"No idea," Dick answered simply. "But, for some reason, I put a beacon right... _there_ ," Robin pointed to a particular spot on his holo-map once he had pulled it up again, and Reese raised an eyebrow.

"You think we should check it out?" she asked, and Dick nodded, just before Reese coughed a bit, her throat feeling a bit like sandpaper.

"You okay?" Robin asked her, mask lenses narrowed worriedly. Unlike Batman and Robin, and Green and Red Arrow, for that matter, Silverbird's domino mask didn't contain mask lenses, so you were able to see her eyes at all times.

"My throat's just a bit scratchy," Reese answered. "I think I swallowed some sand," Dick quickly reached into his utility belt, but instead of pulling out what Silverbird assumed would be some sort of mini water bottle, Robin instead pulled out a golden arrowhead, which sparkled in the desert sun.

"What's this?" Robin asked, studying the small object, but all Reese could do was shrug.

"I have no idea," she answered. "But, keep it anyway. Maybe it's important," Robin gave a small nod in response, before slipping the arrowhead back into his utility belt. Then, after Dick had reached into another compartment, he pulled out the mini water bottle and held it out towards her, but Reese didn't take it.

"What if you need it?" she asked, but Robin only shook his head.

"I'll be fine," he answered. " _You_ obviously need it more than I do," he held the small bottle of water out further, but Reese just shook her head.

"Boy Wonder, we're in the middle of the desert," she told him. "What if you get thirsty?"

"I'll be _fine_ ," Dick repeated, practically shoving the water into Reese's hand. "Now, drink,"

"Fine," Silverbird muttered, before unscrewing the blue cap and taking a small sip, only to be caught by Robin's consecutive disapproving look.

"More," he said simply, and Reese glared at him, but complied anyway, drinking the water until the small bottle was empty. When she was done, Silverbird tossed the bottle towards Robin, who caught it out of midair and put it back in his utility belt.

Reese would never admit it to Dick, but she already felt better.

"There," she said sharply. "Happy?"

"Very," Dick answered, before turning around and pulling up his holo-map. "Come on, if we want to find out why exactly we're here, we have a ways to go,"

➳➳➳

By the time the two of them got to wherever it was that Robin had placed a tracker, it had turned to night, and honestly, Silverbird felt like her legs had turned into wet noodles.

"Wish I could remember _why_ I put a GPS marker here," Dick muttered as he and Reese reached the top of a sand dune, only for Robin to pull Silverbird down to the sand as he hit the dirt.

For a split second, Reese was able to see a large black box sitting in the center of a small sand clearing.

"Huh," Robin spoke up after a second. "Guessing that's why,"

"Oh gee," Silverbird shot back. "You think?" Dick sent her a dry look in response, before peeking over the top of the sand dune again.

There didn't seem to be anyone around, but Reese had a bad feeling. So, just as Robin went to hop over the top of the dune into the clearing, Silverbird grabbed his hand again, yanking him down next to her and making Dick land on his back with a soft ' _oomph_ '.

"What was that for?" he asked, but Reese held a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet. Then, Silverbird closed her eyes, reaching out with her super-hearing and listening for any sounds that wouldn't belong in that of the Bialyan desert late at night.

For a good five seconds, she didn't hear anything out of the ordinary, but then she pushed her hearing further, and the sounds of several heartbeats reached Silverbird's ears, most of which obviously didn't belong to her or Robin.

"There we go," she whispered, opening her eyes again, and turned to Dick, seeing the Boy Wonder look fairly confused. "Ambush," Reese mouthed, and Robin's mask lenses widened the tiniest bit.

Slowly, Silverbird reached over her shoulder into her quiver and drew out a single arrow, one that would give her and Robin some much-needed cover. But, before she was able to shoot it, over a dozen soldiers stood up from their spots in the sand, guns pointed right at where Reese and Dick were hiding.

"[ _Her Majesty wants them alive_!]" one of the soldiers shouted in Bialyan, and Silverbird's eyes narrowed as she processed his words.

But, before she could think too much on it, Reese shot her arrow and the cylindrical weapon landed true, right smack-dab in the middle of the soldiers, where a choking gray smoke appeared.

As the soldiers coughed and wheezed, trying to get the smoke out of their eyes, Robin and Silverbird moved in, working in tandem to defeat the soldiers and to hopefully avoid causing an international incident.

While Robin took down three soldiers at once, Silverbird found herself corned, two soldiers on either side, but before they could capture her, Reese shifted her bow so she was holding it horizontally, and then slammed it into one soldier's stomach, pivoting on her right foot and throwing her left in a high kick that knocked two others out in one fell swoop.

But, that still left one more soldier completely fine, and the one Silverbird had winded with her bow. Though Reese was only able to see the soldiers' eyes, considering their mouths and noses were covered by fabric masks, she could guess as to what their expressions were.

Both soldiers lurched towards Silverbird at the same time, and Reese crouched down, just as two bolas flew towards them, wrapping around the soldiers and knocking them to the ground.

Silverbird turned her head up in time to see Robin's arms lowering again, and Dick sent her a crooked smile. Over Robin's shoulder, Reese caught sight of a soldier creeping up behind him, and she quickly shot an arrow over his shoulder, the arrowhead opening up and causing a boxing glove to appear, hitting the soldier right in the face and knocking him unconscious.

"Where'd you find that?" Robin shouted as he kicked away two other soldiers, and despite the potentially dangerous situation they were in, Silverbird found herself laughing.

"An old trick GA taught me!" she answered, popping up beside Robin as the Boy Wonder threw his birdarangs at three soldiers, the blades knocking the guns off of two of them.

As Dick ran towards the last one, whose gun was still within his grip, Reese went up against the two who had begun to chase Robin, sticking her foot out and causing the two soldiers to trip over each other.

Robin leaped up onto the shoulders of one of the soldiers, twisting around and throwing him into two others, landing and sliding back on the sand. Silverbird stood next to him just as one of the soldiers, presumably the one in charge, yelled to the others in Bialyan.

"[ _Enough_!]" he cried. "[ _Open fire_!]"

"Duck!," Silverbird shouted, just as a spray of bullets came flying towards her and Robin, prompting both birds to flip away from them. There had never been another moment that Reese was more glad that Dick had taught her acrobatics.

But, just as soon as the gunfire began, it stopped, and Reese tilted her head, moving her hair away from her face in time to see a streak of shadowy red and black run in front of the soldiers, and when it disappeared, the soldiers' guns were gone from their hands.

"I'll hold that," a relievingly familiar voice called out, and Silverbird found herself smiling. "Thanks,"

Kid Flash, for some reason dressed in a black costume instead of his usual yellow, skidded to a stop in the sand, dropping the now-confiscated automatic weaponry on the ground before running forward again and joining Robin and Silverbird in their fight against the soldiers.

Footsteps from behind her made Silverbird spin around, arrow at the ready, but before she was able to shoot, the two soldiers went flying backward, and for a moment, all Reese was able to do was blink in shock.

She turned around, seeing that Robin was just as shocked as she was, before they both turned to look up, just as a levitating girl with green skin and an outfit reminiscent of Martian Manhunter's appeared in the sky.

Wally grabbed another soldier by the boot and spun him around for a few seconds, gaining momentum, before the teenage speedster let go, letting the soldier slam two others down to the ground.

From the corner of her eye, Silverbird saw another soldier running away, and she went to shoot another arrow, but before she could, someone else's arrow flew over her head, splitting into a bola and wrapping around the soldier's legs, throwing him to the ground.

Confused, Reese turned around, along with Robin, Kid Flash, and the green girl, to look up at a nearby sand dune, where another girl stood, maybe a little shorter than Wally, dressed in a green ensemble with a long blonde ponytail, holding a bow.

"KF!" Robin exclaimed excitedly, going forward and exchanging a fist bump with Wally. "Man, it's good to see a familiar face,"

"Hey, Rob," Kid Flash greeted back before Reese suddenly found herself being spun around at superspeed by the red-haired speedster. "And Robin's _pretty bird_ ," Silverbird was too dizzy at the moment after KF had set her down to glare at Wally for teasing her about Dick's nickname.

"Memory loss?" Wally asked as Reese straightened up, setting a hand against her forehead and nodding.

"Six months," she answered wearily, mentally willing everything in front of her eyes to stop spinning. No matter how many times she had told Kid Flash to stop spinning her around, he never listened.

"Let's hogtie these creeps and compare notes," Robin said firmly, setting a hand on Silverbird's shoulder and glancing at Reese worriedly before turning to glare at KF, who just gave Dick a nervous smile in response.

➳➳➳

"So..." Silverbird began slowly once Miss Martian, who seemed to be the green girl, had explained everything that had apparently happened. "We're a team?"

"The five of us and Superboy," Miss M answered, and Robin's eyes widened.

"Then this must be his," Dick observed, holding up the piece of fabric he and Reese had found earlier.

"Yes!" Miss Martian exclaimed, taking the fabric from Robin and holding it in her hands. "Did you see him?"

"I think _we_ did," Artemis, the blonde girl who had come with Wally, said before Reese was able to open her mouth as KF rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Feral boy?" Wally asked. "Some teammate. He attacked us,"

"He didn't know who we are," Artemis tried to reason with the speedster, before gesturing to herself. " _I_ don't know who we are,"

Robin and Silverbird glanced at each other for a moment before Reese spoke up. "I remember Batman saying we needed to keep radio silent," she shrugged. "Our team probably works for him," While Dick nodded in agreement, Wally, it seemed, wasn't convinced.

"How do you know we don't work for _my_ mentor?" the speedster asked, and Reese crossed her arms.

"I'm sure the day the Flash creates a team is a day that _Batman_ reveals his identity to the world," she answered simply, and Wally glared at her, before he poked a finger at the lightning symbol on his chest, causing his suit to turn from dark gray to its usual yellow.

"This is so cool!" he exclaimed, and Silverbird quirked an eyebrow as Wally kept poking himself, his suit continuously changing from black to yellow to black to yellow, over and over again.

Robin and Artemis tried as well, but they weren't having much luck, and Reese slapped Dick's hand away from where it kept poking his R-emblem because frankly, it was starting to annoy her. 

"We look _ridiculous_!" Artemis exclaimed after a moment, before turning to glare at Wally. "Quit touching yourself!"

As Wally and Artemis continued to argue, Reese groaned to herself, pressing her palms against her face. God, did these two always fight this much?

"We need our memories back," Artemis said finally, turning to look at Miss M, who had been wringing her hands together up until this moment.

Miss Martian placed her fingers on either side of her head, and the next thing Silverbird knew, she, Robin, Kid Flash, and Artemis were standing inside a room that had various facets all around that distinctly reminded Reese of tv screens.

After a moment, Miss Martian's voice came through, only this time, Reese felt it _inside_ her head, which was weird on so many levels.

' _I've brought you into my mind to share what I've remembered so far,_ ' Miss M said. ' _But, I need your help._ '

Then, Miss Martian fully appeared "inside her mind", and she began to talk normally again.

"Together, our broken memories _can_ form a whole, if you open your minds to mine," Reese didn't really see a problem with it, but Artemis, on the other hand, was most definitely _not_ on board with this whole thing.

"You want to paw through our private thoughts?" the blonde asked, stepping back a bit, and causing Silverbird to raise an eyebrow again in suspicion as Miss M quickly held up her hands.

"I have no wish to intrude," the martian admitted. "But--"

"You need to hack our minds to figure out what happened to us," Robin finished her thought. "Got it. Go,"

"My brain's all yours," Wally added. "Try not to let its brilliance overwhelm you,"

"Or underwhelm you," Reese retorted, glaring slightly at Wally as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hey," Robin spoke up suddenly. "Why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" To that, Reese was only able to shrug. Artemis, though, still seemed a bit skeptical, but reluctantly agreed once Wally had gently grabbed her hand.

"Last six months _only_ ," the blonde archer said firmly. "And _only_ what you need,"

Miss Martian gave a nod before four massive glowing blue hands appeared and flew slowly towards Reese and the others, landing solidly on each of their heads.

And, holy crap, did she really spend that much time with Dick when they weren't with the team?

But, before Silverbird could worry too much about it, Batman's voice came through, and Reese suddenly what exactly had happened before she woke up in the desert and almost shot Robin with an arrow.

**\---**

_"The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert," Batman was saying, pulling up a holo-map inside the cave. "Spectral analysis has revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site, what landed there. Bialya is a rogue state ruled by Queen Bee,"_

_As he continued his briefing, Bruce pulled up another holo-screen, this time showcasing the ruler of Bialya. "It is not a member of the League's UN charter. All communications are subject to interception. Maintain radio silence at all times. Silverbird, how is your Bialyan?"_

_Reese found herself staring up at Batman, a bit shocked. "Fluent," she answered simply. "Why?"_

_"As the Team's best linguist, it will be your job to try and negotiate with the Bialyans should things go south," Batman explained, before turning back to the holo-map, oblivious to the simple ton of pressure he had just dropped on top of Reese's shoulders. "You'll land in Qurac, on Bialya's border, two clicks from the hot-zone,"_

_**\---** _

_"All clear," Robin said once they had landed the Bioship in the Middle Eastern country, and as Superboy set up the machine they were using to test the site where Batman had spectral-analyzed, Silverbird went with Robin and Artemis to peek over the dunes._

_"The Bialyans control the sight," Artemis observed as the three of them peered down at a desert-camouflaged tent in a nearby clearing._

_"Set up here," a then-unfamiliar voice said, and Superboy set down the machine, which he had been carrying like a backpack across his back._

_"We'll be up and running in no time," Robin said as he began powering up the machine, Silverbird peering over his shoulder at the small computer screen that was on the side of the machine._

_"Jackpot!" Wally exclaimed. "The site's lousy with zeta beam radiation,"_

_"Detecting non-terrestrial trace elements from the tent," Robin spoke up, as M'gann walked forward._

_"I'll check it out on camouflage mode," the martian said._

_"Good idea," the unfamiliar voice said again. "Go,"_

_But, Silverbird couldn't help but have a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she glanced towards Miss Martian as she got ready to leave._

_"Be careful," Reese and Superboy said in unison, just as the final member of their team, Aqualad, walked in front of Miss M and Superboy._

_"And maintain telepathic contact," he said simply, and M'gann nodded._

_"I will Aqualad,"_

_**\---** _

"Aqualad!" the five of them cried out, and Reese discovered they had all exited M'gann's mind and were now back in the Bialyan desert.

"Where is he?" Silverbird asked worriedly.

"What happened next?" Robin added, but M'gann only shook her head.

"I don't know!" she exclaimed. "That's the last thing I-- _we_ remember,"

"We landed twenty-four hours ago," Wally spoke up, rubbing his head nervously after he and Artemis realized they were still holding hands. "If Kaldur's been wandering the desert that long, well, that's not good for a guy with gills,"

A thought suddenly ran through Reese's mind, and she smacked her hand against the back of Robin's head, knocking Dick forward a few inches.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head. "What was that for?"

"I _told_ you we should've kept that water," she hissed, but Robin scowled.

"Well," he began, crossing his arms. " _Excuse me_ for not wanting you to die of dehydration, pretty bird,"

"I don't have gills, Boy Wonder," Silverbird shot back. "Unlike Kaldur, I breathe _oxygen_ , not water,"

"You still need water to survive,"

"Not as much as Aqualad does,"

" _Ahem_ ," The sudden sound of a throat-clearing cut into Reese and Dick's mini argument, and the two birds turned to see both Wally and Artemis staring at them with identical smirks, which in turn made twin scowls appear on both Silverbird's and Robin's faces. "Are you two finished?"

"Right," Dick said quickly, pulling up his holo-map. "Now that I know to look for him. He's close!" Robin exclaimed after a moment of studying his map. "But he's not moving,"

Luckily, Dick was right, and the five of them managed to locate a delirious Aqualad, who was, Reese realized, in desperate need of rehydration.

Carefully, M'gann sat Kaldur up, but their leader was currently muttering incoherently in Atlantean and wasn't making much sense.

"I can't restore his memories in this state," Miss M said morosely.

"He needs _immediate_ rehydration," Robin spoke up. "Call the Bioship,"

"It's out of range," M'gann answered, before turning to Wally. "But, you can get him there fast,"

"He's too heavy," Wally said, sounding as if he were almost out-of-breath. "And I'm too low on fuel. Right now," he jerked a thumb towards Artemis. "I couldn't even carry _her_ ,"

Artemis scoffed, pushing away KF's hand before she spoke. "Why not just... _levitate_ him back?" she asked.

"I can't," M'gann answered firmly, laying Aqualad back on the sand. "I have to find Superboy. Six months ago, he didn't _exist_. He _has_ no memories, just animal impulses. I'm the only one who can help him,"

"Superboy's practically indestructible," Silverbird spoke up, gesturing to Kaldur. "Aqualad's the one who needs you right now,"

But, M'gann only grabbed her head. "No!" she shouted. "Superboy's in pain!"

"M'gann, wait!" Artemis shouted as Miss M began to fly away like a rocket, as Robin cupped his hands around his mouth.

"We still don't know what erased our memories!" he cried. "It could happen again!"

But, it was too late, M'gann was already gone, and Reese was left with Artemis, Wally, Dick, and an unconscious Kaldur, with no way to get him back to the Bioship before he completely dried out.

"Perfect," Silverbird muttered sarcastically, walking a few steps away and kicking the sand angrily. But, when she did, she must have dislodged something, because the next thing Reese knew, she was falling down the hill.

She let out a small scream, not loud enough to be a Canary Cry, but loud enough to catch the attention of Robin, KF, and Artemis, who all looked around, shocked at the sudden disappearance of their brunette teammate.

"Reese?" Robin called out, but when there was no answer, he began running. "Rhysalin!"

"Down here," a small voice called back, and Dick poked his head over a particularly large boulder, giving a sigh of relief when he saw a dazed Silverbird sitting at the base of the hill, rubbing her head.

Quickly, Dick slid down the hill, skidding to a stop beside Reese and gently pulling the brunette to her feet, making sure she wasn't injured.

"You okay?" he asked softly as Artemis and Wally joined them, the speedster dragging Kaldur behind him by the ankles, and Reese gave a small nod.

"I'm good," she answered, before shifting some sand, revealing two long wooden poles and a large piece of canvas. "And, I think I have an idea,"

Quickly, with Robin's help, Silverbird had tied the canvas to the two poles, creating a sort of gurney/stretcher, which the four young heroes used to carry Aqualad towards the Bioship.

Well, Artemis and Wally dragged the gurney behind them, while Dick used his holo-map as a way to find their way back to the Bioship, and Reese acted as their lookout, watching and listening for any Bialyan soldiers that might be headed their way.

Suddenly, a noise hit her ears, and Silverbird held up a hand, signaling everyone to stop, which they did so immediately.

"Quick!" Robin whispered hurriedly. "Over here,"

Then, the four of them, plus a still-unconscious Kaldur, quickly darted behind a rocky column, just as more Bialyan Army Humvees drove across the sand. As the Humvees passed, Robin peered around the outcropping, before turning back towards Silverbird and the others, where Kaldur was murmuring in Atlantean.

"Shh, Kaldur," Artemis whispered. "Quiet now,"

"What's he saying?" Robin whispered to Silverbird, and Reese clenched her eyes shut.

"I'm not sure," she admitted. "Normally it takes a few minutes for--" her eyes flew open, glowing silver for a moment as the new language entered her brain before they turned brown again, and Silverbird shook her head, the cloud inside her mind clearing. "Nevermind,"

It was odd, the way her omnilinguistics worked.

In order to fully absorb a new language, Reese need only hear a sentence or two spoken fluently before the entire language itself would enter her brain, causing _her_ to be able to speak the language, whether it be Romanian, Bialyan, or even Atlantean. Dead languages took longer. If no one spoke the language anymore, it usually took the twelve-year-old several hours to a few days to learn it.

Reese wasn't entirely sure if it would even work with alien languages, she had never tried.

"So?" Wally's voice made Reese glance towards the speedster. "What is our oh-so-powerful leader muttering about?"

Silverbird sighed. "He...He wanted to stay in Atlantis," she said quietly, and the eyes of Robin, Kid Flash, and Artemis all widened. "But, it's also not my place to admit things. If Kaldur would like to tell us about it, he can do it on his own terms. Not right now,"

"She's right," Robin said quickly. "But, we also can't risk a firefight with Aqualad KO'd like this,"

"It's not just him," KF added, rubbing his neck. "I'm _way_ out of juice,"

"And I'm almost out of arrows," Artemis exclaimed, slightly exasperated, but before Silverbird was able to add anything to the conversation, Robin had already grabbed her hand, dragging Reese with him as he went off to who-knows-where.

"Come on," Dick whispered quickly, before glancing over his shoulder. "Think you can provide a distraction for a few seconds?"

Reese, unlike Artemis, had hardly needed to use any of her own arrows, surprisingly, so her quiver was still three-quarters of the way full. In response to his question, Silverbird nodded, and Robin gave another crooked smile before the two birds diverged, with Dick going one way and Reese the other.

Ducking behind a sand dune, Silverbird peered over the top to see another squad of soldiers standing within an open clearing. Carefully, she nocked an arrow and drew back her bowstring, before shooting it over the heads of the soldiers, the subtle flash of the metal arrowhead diverting their attention long enough for Robin to deposit his birdarangs.

All too soon though, the two of them headed back towards where Artemis, Kid Flash, and Aqualad were stationed, only to find the first two arguing again, per usual.

"Amnesia, _remember_?" Artemis was scowling, oblivious to the fact that Robin and Silverbird had returned. "Completely forgot how _truly_ annoying you are,"

"Oh, like you're the Goddess of Congeniality?" Wally shot back.

"Yeesh," Robin cut in, making both of them turn towards where he and Silverbird were crouching beside Aqualad. "Get a room,"

"Dude," Kid Flash cut in. "Where were you two?"

"Breaking radio silence,"

Reese found herself smirking as there was a buzz before Dick's telltale Robin cackle echoed through the desert night air, causing the soldiers to go off and investigate, leading to an explosion and a cloud of smoke.

"That's our cue," she said simply. "Move!"

Once again, Artemis and Wally grabbed Kaldur's stretcher, dragging their leader and friend across the sand as the soldiers were distracted by Silverbird and Robin's own " _distraction_ ".

**Q U R A C  
September 5, 02:32 EEST**

Finally, _finally_ , they made it back to the Bioship on the Bialya-Qurac border, and Artemis and Reese quickly hooked Kaldur up to an IV that put water back into his veins. Before long, M'gann's voice entered Silverbird's head.

' _Hey, everybody!'_ the martian exclaimed. ' _I've got Superboy. He's back to normal and we're on our way,_ '

Kaldur suddenly shot up from where he was laying on a makeshift hospital bed within the Bioship, looking fairly shocked.

"Who are you?" he cried out, surprisingly in English. "And how did you get inside my head?" As Reese and Artemis gently pushed Aqualad back down on the bed, M'gann spoke again over the mental link.

' _Hello, Megan!'_ she exclaimed. ' _Aqualad's memories! I knew I forgot something._ '

' _Aw, man,_ ' Wally suddenly groaned mentally. ' _Me too. I didn't get a souvenir from the mission!'_

' _Don't worry,_ ' M'gann answered. ' _Got the souvenir thing covered,_ '

For a moment, Reese wondered what M'gann was talking about. Then, she met the weird alien ball thing that Superboy brought to the Bioship, and she figured it would probably be better if she didn't ask.


	15. 13. Targets

**T A I P E I  
September 7, 19:20 NST**

When Red Arrow called her and asked Silverbird if she wanted to help him with a mission in Taipei, Reese couldn't find it in herself to say no.

As much as she loved being with the Team and fighting the bad guys with them, Roy would always be her brother, whether they were related by blood or not, and Reese loved the few missions they worked together when it was just the two of them.

At the moment, Reese was dressed in the same outfit she'd been wearing when the Team delivered AMAZO to STAR Labs, only this time she also had computerized sunglasses over her eyes, standing within the gathered crowd at the site where a peace summit between the warring countries of North and South Rhelasia had been stalled, so much so that an arbitrator had been called in to talk things through.

As it were, that was part of the reason she and Roy were in Taiwan in the first place, to try and stop an assassination attempt. Through the crowd, Reese was able to study the two leaders, General Singh Manh Li, and Prime Minister Tseng, as they stood guarded by their own security forces.

"See anything?" Roy's voice came through Reese's earpiece, and for a moment, Reese glanced over towards where the older archer was stationed behind a column close to the entrance of the building where the summit was taking place.

Then, Reese looked around, but she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, and she told Roy as much.

"No," she said softly, careful not to alert the people around her. "Sorry,"

"It's alright," Roy answered. "I got an idea _,_ " Then, Kaldur's voice came through her earpiece, and Reese assumed that Roy had called their Atlantean friend.

" _Aqualad,_ "

"You got Red Arrow and Silverbird _,_ " Roy said after the brief greeting from Kaldur. "We need access to the Justice League database,"

"Along with the _exact_ height of the League of Shadows assassin known as Cheshire," Reese added before she bit her lip.

When she had asked Robin to do a background check on Artemis after the blonde had first joined the team, both birds had discovered who Artemis's family was, including the fact that Cheshire, also known as Jade Nguyen, was Artemis's older sister.

Until now, Reese had kept her promise to Artemis in the fact that she hadn't told anyone who she really was, and it was unlikely that Dick would tell anybody. He wasn't really one to blurt out secrets, unlike a certain red-haired speedster she could mention.

But, now Reese also wondered if Jade--Cheshire--was _really_ the assassin said to be the one targeting the summit, and whether or not she should tell Roy everything she knew before it was too late.

" _Checking..._ " Aqualad's voice came through her earpiece again, and it brought the youngest archer out of her thoughts long enough to glance around at the people gathered to watch the arbitrator arrive at the summit. " _Cheshire is 1.67 meters,_ "

"Um..." Roy trailed off, but luckily, Reese knew how to work the metric system.

"She's five-foot-six, Roy," she whispered.

" _And exceptionally dangerous,_" Aqualad added. " _Do the two of you require backup_?"

"Please," Roy scoffed. "The last thing I need is the _Junior Justice League,_ "

" _Just our computer,_ " Aqualad retorted, and Reese snickered at the Atlantean's sarcasm before she looked around again at the crowd gathered around the summit building, the sunglasses analyzing every person there until finally, there was a match.

"I got her," Reese whispered. "Far side of the entrance,"

" _Good luck my friends,_ " Kaldur said after a moment. " _Aqualad out_ ,"

Quickly, Reese crossed the promenade towards the booth where Jade--Cheshire--was currently hiding, slipping out her bow, which had been compacted with straps across her back. As she moved, sirens sounded as a police escort drove towards the front of the summit building, a white car within the middle of them.

The arbitrator, Reese realized.

As the car stopped in front of the building, the movement of something from the corner of her eye made Reese turn in time to see Cheshire, in full League of Shadows garb, complete with a red-and-white cat mask over her face, climb up on top of the booth, holding a rocket launcher.

Before she was able to pull the trigger, Reese glanced towards Roy, who gave his sister a solid nod, and both archers shot a single arrow at the same time, knocking off Cheshire's aim enough that Jade wasn't able to assassinate the arbitrator.

But, as the missile flew through the air and panic spread throughout the crowd anyway, Reese began to get jostled as people ran into her at every turn in their haste to get to safety.

Finally, she managed to make it out into the open, only to see the rocket once again flying towards the summit building. Reese's eyes widened, but Roy leaped up anyway, shooting an arrow towards Cheshire.

The arrow let a net escape from it, but the assassin sliced through it with her sais as the rocket made a nearby newsstand explode.

Running forward, Reese threw her foot out in a high kick, but Cheshire caught it in one hand and used the momentum to throw the small brunette against the asphalt just as Roy tackled Jade to the ground.

When Reese brought her head up, it was to find a gun pointed straight at her face as the security guards that were _supposed_ tobe protecting the summit arrested her and Roy instead.

Well, they got Cheshire, so that was something.

As Reese held her hands up in surrender, just to make sure the Rhelasians didn't shoot her, the driver's door to the arbitrator's car opened, revealing a woman that Reese could've _sworn_ she'd seen before, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

When four of Taipei's police department pulled Reese and Roy to their feet, both finally got a good look at the summit's arbitrator, and Reese swore her eyes almost bulged out of her head as both she and Roy gaped.

_Lex Luthor._

➳➳➳

Later, as the police pushed Cheshire into a police car, while two others still held onto Roy and Reese, Luthor's chauffeur(?), Mercy got off the phone, giving a solid nod to her boss before Luthor turned to the police holding the two archers.

"We have confirmation," the businessman began. "These two are Green Arrow's _pals_ , Speedy and Silverbird,"

"It's _Red Arrow_ now _,_ " Roy cut in, while Reese stayed silent. So far, this mission had been going splendidly, note the sarcasm.

"They must be questioned," a police captain said to Luthor, who held up a hand.

"Lex Luthor vouches for them, Captain," the man said, and Reese quirked an eyebrow. If this ended by her owing a favor to Lex _freaking_ Luthor... "Release the sidekicks,"

" _Ex-_ sidekick," Roy growled as the two police officers unlocked the handcuffs of first him, then Reese. "And we don't need any favors from _you_ ,"

"Apologies," Luthor said, sounding eerily calm, given the situation. "I didn't realize you and your... _sister_ here would like to join the other young lady behind bars," This time, Reese did speak up, walking up to Luthor and glaring at the man, even though he was at least twice her size, in both height and frame.

"You may have everyone else fooled here, Luthor," she said quietly. "But, we both know what you are,"

"Oh," Luthor said calmly again, lightly ruffling the top of Reese's hair before Roy yanked her back, out of his reach as Reese shook her head, trying to get the feeling of Lex Luthor touching her out of her mind. "I don't pretend to be an angel. It just so happens that _this_ time, I'm on the _side_ of the angels,"

With that, he began to walk inside the summit building, and Roy and Reese exchanged a dubious glance before they followed. Inside, Cat Grant was with her cameraman from GBS, reporting on the story, and as they passed, Reese listened in.

"The violence outside," the reporter was saying. "Has _not_ helped the peacemaking process," _Understatement_ , Reese thought, before she turned towards the grand staircase, where the general and prime minister had begun to argue with each other.

"Hiring _assassins_ , Li?" Tseng shouted towards the general. "Have you no one among your _own_ troops to do the North's dirty work?"

"I need no assassin, Tseng!" General Li retorted sharply, pointing a finger in the South Rhelasian Prime Minister's direction. "Such is the method of a _Southern_ coward!"

As the two world leaders continued to argue in their native tongue, Reese found herself rolling her eyes, before she began to listen again to what Cat was currently telling the world through her reporting.

"Tensions are running high," the blonde woman said. "And troops are massing on the border between the two countries. Right now, Lex Luthor seems to be the best, or only, hope for peace,"

"Why should either side trust _you_?" Roy spoke up, scowling towards Luthor, but the businessman remained calm, and frankly, his _calmness_ was what had been starting to freak Reese out.

" _Because_ ," Luthor answered. "LexCorp is a company founded on a peaceful enterprise for _all_ humanity,"

"Oh, cut the act, Luthor," Reese scowled, her expression eerily mirroring Roy's, as she glanced up at the bald man again, crossing her arms. "We've got intel that links some of LexCorp's shell companies to the sale of weapons in _both_ Rhelasia's,"

"You're profiting off this war," Roy added, pointing his forefinger towards Luthor. "So, what's your angle?"

Instead of answering, Luthor only walked forward until he was standing just in front of Roy and Reese, looking fairly smug, and it made Reese want to punch the offending expression right off him.

Man, she had been hanging out with Superboy too much.

"War income is _pocket change_ compared to the billions to be made investing in a _peaceful_ United Rhelasia," Luthor answered finally. "And isn't it better to have _peace_? Even if that _scoundrel_ Lex Luthor profits from it?"

"That _scoundrel_ ," Roy shot back. "May not survive to profit,"

"Just because Cheshire failed," Reese began. "Doesn't mean that the League of Shadows will. Someone gave them a contract, and those assassins won't stop until that contract is fully completed,"

"Which _does_ beg the question," Luthor said. " _Who_ hired the League?"

"And whether or not _you_ were really the target," Reese realized as her and Roy's eyes widened at the same time, both looking towards the staircase, where Tseng and Li were still arguing with each other. "Or was your death supposed to be a way to conveniently sabotage the summit?"

"I see all your time around Robin has paid off, Silverbird," Luthor spoke. "You _are_ smart," Reese and Roy both glared at him as Reese crossed her arms over her chest.

"Don't patronize me, Luthor," she scowled, but once again, Lex Luthor was hardly phased.

Instead, he only ignored her.

"Allow me to hire you and Silverbird here to find out," the bald man said to Roy, and Reese rolled her eyes again. As it were, Red Arrow wasn't looking for a payoff.

" _Your_ money has blood on it," Roy grumbled, arms crossed. "And _we're_ not here to make a buck,"

"So," Luthor chuckled, setting a hand on Roy's shoulder. "The two of you will provide your services...but for _free_?" he raised an eyebrow, looking almost amused. "I can live with that, young heroes,"

"Hardly," Reese muttered under her breath, but Luthor either didn't hear her, or he ignored her and spoke again as Roy gave him a look, likely mentally willing Luthor to take his hand _off_ of his shoulder.

"Now, excuse me," Luthor continued. "I have a hemisphere to save," Then, Luthor walked towards the staircase, spreading his arms out in what Reese assumed was supposed to be some sort of grand gesture. "Gentlemen, gentlemen," he said. "Shall we attempt some smiles for the cameras?"

"God, I hate him," Reese muttered, and Roy gave a small noise of agreement before Reese glanced again at her brother. "If this ends by us owing a favor to Lex Luthor--"

"I know, _sestra_ ," Roy cut her off, but his use of a Bulgarian word made Reese glance at him, to which the redhead just shrugged. "Google's very helpful,"

"I bet," Reese retorted, though she was smiling. "If you want me to teach you anything, I'd be happy to,"

"Can we worry about that _after_ the mission?" Roy asked, and Reese turned back to where Luthor was trying to negotiate with Li and Tseng.

"Of course,"

➳➳➳

After a while, Roy and Reese changed fully into their hero costumes, and Red Arrow and Silverbird went to the Taipei police department, where they confronted Cheshire in her holding cell.

Remarkably, Jade Nguyen seemed calm, practicing Tai Chi within her cell even. When Silverbird had discovered who Artemis's sister was, this hadn't really been who she was expecting.

"Aren't you going to ask me... _anything_?" Jade asked as she moved fluidly through her motions within the cell.

"I think you know what we're after," Red Arrow said simply, cutting to the chase before any distractions could occur.

"I do, actually," Jade said simply, causing Reese to quirk an eyebrow. "Do you?"

"Who hired you?" Silverbird cut in, but Jade just continued her Tai Chi.

"Shadows," she answered, and Reese rolled her eyes as Roy spoke up.

"Who hired _them_?" he asked, but Jade only turned to face the two archers.

"I don't ask," she said, even sending a wink towards Red Arrow, the context of which made Silverbird gag. 

_Ew_.

Reese grimaced from where she was standing behind Roy, closer to the wall, and was content, the term used loosely, to just stand and watch as her brother interrogated the assassin.

"What's the endgame?" Arrow continued to question, and Cheshire continued to dodge him. "The peace summit? Or Luthor himself?"

Finally, Jade stopped with her smooth movements and instead turned to fully face Roy, pointing a finger-gun at him.

"Two birds," she began. " _One_ stone," then, Cheshire's almond-shaped eyes landed on Silverbird, who was still standing behind her brother and Jade put her hands on her hips. "Hey, where are your little sidekick friends? They're always fun to play with. Especially Art--" she cut off abruptly, but Reese knew she was about to say Artemis. "--chery girl,"

In front of Silverbird, Red Arrow narrowed his eyes, because as far as he knew, Cheshire wasn't talking about Artemis, (because how would an assassin from the League of Shadows know the newbie?) but rather his sister. And, as such, Roy shifted to the side, just so Reese was out of Jade's sightline.

"Not your brunette sister, Red," Cheshire said, sounding a bit contemptuous. "I meant the blonde. I like her,"

"She--" Red Arrow paused for a moment before correcting himself. " _They_ , aren't in my league,"

In the two months that it had been since that disastrous meeting at the Hall of Justice, Reese had realized that despite her being the only one who could _really_ get through to Roy whenever he was in a mood, there were things that even she wasn't capable of.

And she was okay with that.

If Roy, as Red Arrow, wanted to strike out on his own, then she wasn't going to stand in the way of that. Just as long as Reese was able to still spend time with her brother when he wasn't off on his own, like now, for instance.

"And you think you're in mine?" Cheshire asked, walking forward and grabbing the front of Roy's uniform, yanking him towards her so they were face-to-face. "Where is Green Arrow when you really need him?"

"I _don't_ ," Red Arrow continued to claim, and as she watched the interaction going on in front of her, Silverbird grimaced again. These two were _seriously_ disgusting _._

"Sure about that?" Jade asked, tilting Roy's head down towards her, before dropping to a crouch.

"Get down!" Reese shouted, and Roy spun around, tackling her just as the opposite wall of Jade's cell exploded, bringing with it a cloud of smoke, dust, and broken rock.

When Red Arrow and Silverbird sat up, Cheshire was gone, and there was a massive jagged hole in the wall, which Reese presumed was the way Jade had escaped. Roy ran over to the miraculously still-standing cell bars and clenched his hands around them, before giving an angry shout and running out of the room, Reese right on his heels.

The two archers made their way towards the roof, and from what Silverbird was able to see, Cheshire was running along the tops of nearby buildings with the same person who had broken her out of jail.

As Reese focused her eyes on the pair, enhanced vision zooming in on the two, she recognized Jade's companion. Sportsmaster, aka the father of both Cheshire _and_ Artemis. The irony was definitely not lost on her.

After Silverbird exchanged a glance with Red Arrow, who only gave her a single solid nod, both shot an arrow towards a building in front of Cheshire and Sportsmaster's current path, and once the anchor was secure, used their bows as a sort of zipline.

After a few minutes, Jade glanced over at the two, taking a throwing star from her pocket.

"I admire persistence," Cheshire began. "But..."

Cutting herself off, Jade threw the throwing star, but before it was able to slice through the line, Roy and Reese both dropped to a nearby roof, running towards the edge where Cheshire and Sportsmaster were just climbing into a helicopter.

As the chopper flew higher up into the air, Red Arrow shot another arrow at the base of the vehicle, before grabbing Silverbird and dragging her along.

The two of them were tugged along behind the helicopter, but after a moment, Jade leaned out again, and when Reese realized what was in the assassin's hand, her eyes widened a split second before the line was cut, causing both Silverbird and Red Arrow to begin the many foot drop to the ground below.

Luckily, since they were _not_ complete novices at this particular line of work, Reese and Roy managed to each shoot an arrow at the roof they hurtling towards, causing twin piles of gooey foam to erupt and cushion their landing just in time.

When Silverbird sat up, she found herself covered head-to-toe in icky red goo, and she shook her sleeve, trying to get it off as if it were a bug. Luckily, Red Arrow had managed to stick a tracker on the helicopter in the arrowhead before Cheshire had sliced through the line, so the two of them had a means of following Sportsmaster and his daughter before they got away for good.

➳➳➳

The tracker led Reese and Roy to an old temple within a small inner-city lake, and the two perched behind an outcropping as Silverbird strained her hearing, listening as Jade and Sportsmaster conversed beneath them.

"Because I'm a professional," Cheshire was saying. "I _won't_ kill you. At least not while we're on the job,"

"You wouldn't have this job if not for me," Sportsmaster responded. "Grow up already,"

"The evening's agenda was to create strife between nations," Another voice suddenly joined the conversation, and Reese's eyes widened as Ra's al Ghul himself suddenly stepped into the light. " _Not_ my assassins,"

Cheshire had already knelt to one knee, showing submissiveness when faced with the leader of the League of Shadows.

"Master," Jade began, but Ra's only tilted his head to the side.

"And client," he added, and Reese quirked an eyebrow. _Ra's al Ghul_ was the one who had ordered the hit on the summit? She hadn't seen that one coming.

"So, _twice_ disappointed in your failure," Ra's continued. "Luthor has been a thorn in my side for too long. Peaceful countries rarely call upon the League of Shadows,"

"Ra's al Ghul?" Roy muttered from beside Reese, and the younger girl glanced over at her brother before they both tuned back into what Ra's was saying.

"So, I _expect_ a _better_ outcome. Unless interference from _those two_ \--" Ra's suddenly turned towards where Red Arrow and Silverbird were hiding, and Reese grimaced again.

"Perfect," Roy muttered before he and Reese both stood to their shooting twin arrows towards Ra's al Ghul. Unfortunately, Sportsmaster managed to hit both out of the way with his javelin, leaving the League of Shadows's leader miraculously unharmed.

As such, the al Ghul stepped back into the shadows, and Red Arrow and Silverbird began to run over the shingles, with Cheshire and Sportsmaster dodging every arrow that was shot. Jade eventually jumped up onto the roof in front of Roy and Reese, and she began to slice the arrows out of the air, steadily making her way closer to them.

After a few seconds, Cheshire got so close that Red Arrow and Silverbird needed to backflip away. Reese skidded back a few inches further than Roy, and as he began to fight Jade, she tried to keep one eye on Sportsmaster as the man used his javelin to pole-vault up onto the roof.

Cheshire leaped to the side as her father landed on the roof, throwing some sort of discus towards Roy, and as he held up his arms in a way to protect his face, the discus shattered his bow.

When she had been focusing on Sportsmaster, it, unfortunately, meant that Reese had taken her focus _off_ of Cheshire, and in consequence, didn't see the small feathered dart that Jade had shot towards her before it was too late.

Silverbird slapped at her neck, knocking the small dart down towards the roof, but she already felt woozy and held a hand to her head as everything began to swim in front of her.

"I hear you go by _Red Arrow_ now," Reese heard Sportsmaster's voice tell Roy through the haze in her mind. "More like... _broken arrow_ ," Then, Reese felt herself falling, as everything turned black before her eyes, the tranquilizer finally completing what it was supposed to do.

She didn't know how long she was unconscious, but it couldn't have been very long, considering that, when she finally blinked her eyes open, Cheshire and Sportsmaster were still standing in front of her and Roy at the temple.

Reese saw Jade give a small wave a split second before Roy had grabbed her upper arm, dragging Reese down into the water with him as Sportsmaster threw one of two javelins towards them, the staff exploding as it hit the shingles.

When they hit the water, Roy dragged both of them down deeper, just as the other javelin hit the small waves, giving an almost deafening explosion as well. It also didn't help that since sound traveled 4.3 times faster underwater than in the air, and Reese's ears had already begun to ring.

Though Reese was sure that Cheshire and Sportsmaster probably expected them to perish within the double explosions, Red Arrow pulled his sister up to the shore several yards away from where they had first jumped in, Silverbird letting out a series of coughs as she expelled the water from her lungs.

Beside her, Roy lay on the cold cement for a moment before sitting up, breathing heavily as he tapped his commlink.

"It's me," he began. "Silverbird and I may... _possibly_...be in over our heads,"

➳➳➳

"The League of Shadows wants you _dead_ ," Red Arrow told Lex Luthor later, back at the building where the peace summit was being held, after he and Reese had dried off, and Roy had grabbed his ' _back-up bow_ '.

"Doesn't every League?" Luthor asked in response and Silverbird scowled.

"It's not _just_ Cheshire, Luthor," she told him. "It's Sportsmaster _and_ Ra's al Ghul,"

"I can't say I'm surprised," Luthor responded as Mercy helped him put his suit jacket on. "Ra's is something of a-- _competitor_ of mine,"

"Then maybe we should stand aside and watch you take each other out," Red Arrow retorted, and Luthor glanced off to the side.

"Your stab at pragmatism is...well, adorable. But," Luthor added. "The summit and the peace are at stake, remember? We'll increase security," the businessman said finally. "Though, the Shadows think the two of you are dead. Maybe we can surprise them?"

"I got a better surprise," Red Arrow said firmly before all four of them walked back down to the summit floor, where to say that the peace talks got off to a rocky start would be a gross understatement.

"The unification is _unthinkable_!" General Li exclaimed.

"Our peoples no longer have _anything_ in common!" Prime Minister Tseng retorted sharply before finally, Luthor cut in from where he was sitting between them.

"Gentlemen," the bald man began. "This is mere rhetoric. Despite your differences, you still share an appreciation for many things. Such as the exquisite art of the Rhelasian tea ceremony?"

From where she was standing beside a newly-arrived Kaldur in the crowd, Reese turned her head slightly to the side as a tea-bearer dressed reminiscent of a Japanese geisha walked towards the table where the two world leaders were sitting.

Before the disguised Jade could get any further, both Aqualad and Silverbird turned around, their respective weapons held out in front of them, pointing towards the assassin.

"That is far enough," Kaldur said firmly. " _Cheshire_ ," The crowd around them gasped, and Reese saw Jade's eyes narrow, before she pushed a button on her cart, pushing it forward.

In the three seconds it would be before the explosive cart would be in range to assassinate Li, Tseng, _and_ Luthor, Kaldur used his water-bearers to levitate every droplet of water from every glass in the room, making a protective shield around the people gathered, as Roy and Reese shot two separate arrows through the last opening, detonating the bomb before it was set to go off.

Luckily, though he strained under the pressure, Kaldur managed to maintain the water-wall, and the explosion instead flew in Cheshire's direction.

The two massive statues that stood on either side of the summit hall had fallen down, blocking the tables from the rest of the room, and when she clambered over, Silverbird saw Jade lying on the floor amongst shards of broken glass, unmoving.

But, she was revealed to still be alive when the black-haired woman wearily sat up to her hands and knees as Kaldur and Roy joined Reese on the other side of the statues, with Aqualad tearing off the remnants of his jacket, revealing his primary hero attire underneath.

"It's over, Cheshire," Red Arrow said, jaw clenched, but to Silverbird's dismay, Jade only smirked.

"You would think so," she spoke simply, and Reese's eyes widened as a helicopter rose up in front of the broken window that had appeared after the explosion. How had she not heard the rotors beforehand?

Within the helicopter stood Sportsmaster, along with about a dozen regular Shadows. Behind the three heroes, Tseng shouted in Rhelasian, before the security forces of the two leaders ran forward, attempting to stop the assassins.

"You two take Sportsmaster!" Red Arrow shouted. "Cheshire's mine,"

"Mm, so territorial," Jade smirked. "And only our third date,"

" _Gross_ ," Silverbird muttered before she shot an arrow towards Cheshire who, unfortunately, sliced it out of the air with her sais.

Then, while Roy dealt with Artemis's older sister, Kaldur and Reese both flipped over Jade's head, landing on the other side and running in tandem towards Sportsmaster, who had taken down four security guards in the span of fifteen seconds.

Aqualad knocked Sportsmaster in the head with his water-bearers, which he had turned into a pair of glowing blue military flails. While he was doing that, Silverbird knocked down the Shadow goons that were encircling Kaldur and Sportsmaster in a loose circle.

Kaldur, suddenly distracted by something Cheshire had said, was hit in the throat by Sportsmaster's forearm, throwing the Atlantean down onto his stomach. Then, Sportsmaster took out his own little ball-and-chain and spun the weapon around a bit before throwing towards Kaldur.

Luckily, Reese moved faster than a normal girl her age, so she was to kick the ball off course enough for Aqualad to roll out of the way. But then, as if he already wasn't living up to his moniker, Sportsmaster pulled out a _fencing rapier_ and began jabbing at Kaldur and Reese with it.

Aqualad turned his two water-bearers into twin swords, while Silverbird abandoned her bow for the moment, pulling her bo staff out instead, snapping the staff in two above her knee, turning the single weapon into a pair of eskrima sticks, just like the ones Dick used.

She was suddenly really glad that Robin had modified her staff last week.

"Not bad, 'Lad," Sportsmaster said as he held the rapier in front of his face. "Better than your team did at Santa Prisca or Bialya,"

"How did you--" Kaldur trailed off, or rather, Sportsmaster cut him off, as Reese looked on in shock.

"Let's just say I have an inside source," Sportsmaster answered, before, through the eyeholes of his faceplate, his brown eyes narrowed. " _Very_ inside," To be honest, Silverbird wasn't sure whether or not Sportsmaster was being completely honest with them.

I mean, a _mole_ within the Team? That was practically impossible. But...she also couldn't ignore the fact that maybe Sportsmaster _was_ being honest. That was something Reese could worry about later because, at the moment, the thing she was _most_ worried about was whether or not anyone there was getting assassinated.

Suddenly, Silverbird heard Red Arrow's voice from where Roy was standing on top of one of the toppled statues.

"Aqualad, Silverbird," Roy said firmly, shooting an arrow towards the sprinkler system that was connected to the ceiling. "Let's end this,"

As the sprinklers sprayed water everywhere, Reese skittered back closer to the statue, and Kaldur's eel tattoos began to glow before the water from the sprinklers turned into a living blue sea serpent that weaved around the room, cutting off Shadows at every turn.

But, just as things were starting to look up, through the screen of water, Reese saw Jade slip on her Cheshire mask, before grabbing a smoke bomb and throwing it into the mouth of the serpent.

The water serpent disappeared into a regular old puddle as the choking gray smoke surrounded Silverbird, Aqualad, and Red Arrow, causing all three of them to cough.

Even with her enhanced vision, Reese wasn't able to see through the dark cloud, at least not soon enough to stop the Shadow from leaping into the air towards Tseng and General Li.

But, before any of them were able to act, Luthor's assistant/chauffeur of all people, after a signal from her boss, _opened up her arm_ and shot a blue-white energy blast towards the assassin, causing them to fall to the ground.

"Gives new meaning to the ' _arms race_ ', doesn't she?" Luthor asked rhetorically, and Reese felt her mouth fall open before she, Roy, and Kaldur turned to where Jade and Sportsmaster had last been seen, but unfortunately, they were nowhere to be seen.

Turning around again, Silverbird scowled as she watched both of the Rhelasian leaders walk forward and begin to congratulate Luthor on the "technology" he had developed, along with saying they owed him their lives.

Roy, obviously, wasn't too pleased with that.

"They owe _him_ their lives?" he asked, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, but neither Reese nor Kaldur could answer before Cat Grant started reporting again. As it were, Reese didn't pay much attention to what the blonde woman was saying but instead opted to stand beside Kaldur and Roy as the Rhelasian leaders signed a treaty.

The three of them eventually walked out of the building, with Roy muttering as they went. "I can't believe we just did a solid for Lex Luthor,"

"Please don't remind me," Reese said quietly in response, pressing her fingertips to her forehead. "It's giving me a headache just thinking about it,"

"Not for Luthor," Aqualad corrected as they neared the exit door. "For peace. Beyond that," Kaldur continued once they were outside. "If Ra's and the League of Shadows wanted to sabotage the summit, the signing of the treaty renders their contract moot,"

"Yay for us," Reese muttered, pulling her hood down so it hung around her shoulders, running her hand over her hair as everything that had happened within the last twenty-four hours ran through her mind all over again.

"It is over," Kaldur said, looking down at the smaller archer for a moment before he turned to look at the fountain in front of the three of them.

"Is it?" Roy asked, glancing towards his friend. "I heard what Sportsmaster said. Do either of you really think there's a mole in the team, feeding him intel?"

"We...cannot rule out the possibility," Kaldur said reluctantly, but Reese only shrugged. She didn't want to believe it, she _never_ wanted to believe it, that one of her teammates, her _friends_ , could possibly be giving crucial information over to the enemy, but Kaldur was right. It _could_ be possible.

"Kaldur and I can investigate," she spoke softly, wrapping her arms around herself as Roy and Kaldur glanced towards her. "Quietly, I mean,"

"You're not going to _tell_ them?" Roy asked, sounding surprised, but Kaldur shook his head.

"No, Silverbird is right," the Atlantean said. "It would be best if we don't let the unit unravel over baseless suspicion,"

"And if there really is a mole," Reese added. "It would probably be best if we don't tip them off,"

"You _do_ realize that this means you can't tell Robin about this, right?" Roy asked, and Reese suddenly glanced down at her feet, scuffing the toe of her boot against the concrete.

"I know," she whispered. She and Dick had _never_ kept secrets from each other before, at least, not truly, and Reese hated to lie in general, so she wasn't exactly looking forward to this.

"Well..." Roy trailed off for a moment before he set his hands on Reese's shoulders. "Good luck," he told her quietly. But, when the red-haired archer began to walk away, Kaldur stopped him.

"One moment, my friend," Aqualad said firmly. "Tonight, either of you could've called Green Arrow for help. Or the Justice League. Instead, your first instinct was to call the cave,"

"To be fair," Reese held up her index finger. "Roy was the one who called. I was currently trying to get oxygen back into my lungs after almost drowning. But--" she cut herself off when both Roy and Kaldur turned to stare at her. "Nevermind," Reese added quickly. "Carry on,"

"You're right," Roy said towards Kaldur after a moment. "The Team deserves... _has_ my respect. I'm still getting used to this solo act stuff. But if you need me, either of you," he glanced towards Reese for a moment, a rare soft smile appearing on his face. "I'll be there,"

With that, Roy and Kaldur gave each other a firm handshake, before Red Arrow then turned to Silverbird.

"Be careful," he said quietly. "Alright? Even if there isn't a mole--"

"I know," Reese cut him off. "And besides, when have I ever _not_ been careful?" The dry look that Roy sent her way was enough of an answer, in Reese's book anyway.

"I'm serious," The redhead told her, and Reese sent him a small smile.

"I _know_ , Roy," she said. "And I promise, I'll be careful," Though, considering the information they had received tonight, with everything considering the potential mole, Reese wasn't sure she'd be able to keep that promise.

But, she'd sure as hell try her best.


	16. 14. Terrors

**N E W O R L E A N S  
September 14, 16:53 CDT**

If there was one thing that Reese hated more than lying to her friends and teammates about the potential mole within their team, it was dying her hair bleach-blonde. But, that was what the mission required, so she had to suck it up.

What mission, you ask? Well, as of about right now, Reese was standing in a warehouse with a similarly disguised M'gann and newly-named Conner, aka Superboy, in New Orleans.

The Terror Triplets, Tommy, Tuppence, and Tamara Terror, were set to be sent to Belle Reve, a prison specially designed to hold meta-humans. Only, instead of them being sent there, it was going to be Reese, M'gann, and Conner.

As the three sibling criminals lay dazed on the floor of the storage workhouse, Aqualad and Red Tornado stepped out of their hiding places, snapping inhibitor collars around the triplets' necks, negating their super strength.

"Hey!" Tommy Terror exclaimed as Kaldur put the collar on before he and his two sisters tried to escape, to no avail. "That don't feel right,"

"Our strength," breathed out the smallest Terror, Tamara, hence why Reese was going undercover as her. "What happened to it?"

"We just done gone toe-to-toe with Superman!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Congratulations," the disguised Conner called out as he, M'gann, and Reese stepped out of their own hiding places, escorted by Batman. "That's more quality time than he's ever given me,"

To say that Tommy and Tamara looked shocked to see two doubles of themselves would be an understatement. But, the two got even more freaked out when Miss Martian walked towards Tuppence, setting a single hand on her shoulder.

"Got your inspiration?" Conner called out, and Reese found herself smirking.

" _Sister Tuppence_?" she added, and M'gann spun around for a second before she turned herself into Tuppence Terror.

"I believe I do, Brother Tommy and Sister Tamara," the martian answered, as Tommy Terror started to have a sort of mental breakdown.

"Somebody tell me what's goin' on?" he exclaimed, and this time, Batman was the one who answered.

"It's simple," the Dark Knight began as he snapped inhibitor collars around the necks of ' _Tommy, Tuppence, and Tamara Terror_ '. "They're under arrest."

**B E L L E R E V E P A R I S H  
** **September 16, 21:55 CDT**

Two days later, within the armored truck that was bringing the three undercover heroes to Belle Reve, Reese, who was sitting on M'gann's right side, while Conner sat to her left, noticed that they were not alone on the prisoner transport.

_Icicle Jr._ , of all people, sat across from the three on the other bench, and on the far end of the truck, Mr. Freeze sat in a subzero chamber that kept his temperature stable.

Close to the door that led into the cab of the truck, a prison guard holding a shotgun kept a watchful eye over the prisoners he was transporting. Around each prisoner's wrists were a pair of specialized handcuffs, and when Reese shifted her hands to see if there was a way for her to get her hands free, she noticed the guard's eyes narrowed in a challenge, and she decided it'd probably be better if she didn't try.

No point in jeopardizing the mission before they were even inside.

When Reese turned back around, it was to find Icicle Jr. confronting "Tommy Terror", aka Conner, about... _something_.

"Dude," the white-haired teen said quietly after studying M'gann for a moment, and when Conner didn't react, repeated himself. "Dude! Your sister is _sweet_ ," Reese gagged, and she and M'gann exchanged a look as Jr. continued. "How about you put in a good word for me?"

Suddenly, before any of the ' _Terror Triplets_ ' could answer, Icicle Jr. was hit with the butt of the guard's shotgun, pushing him back into his spot on the opposite bench.

"Sit down," the guard said firmly, a southern drawl prominent in his voice. "We're here. Welcome to _Belle Reve,_ "

Through of multitude of sirens and security checks, the prison transport eventually made its way inside the interior of Belle Reve, and Mr. Freeze, Icicle Jr., and the Terror Triplets were led for the transport into a courtyard, where on an upper balcony, an African-American woman stood stoically.

"I am the _law_ of last resort," the woman began, her voice carrying through the courtyard as if she were speaking through a megaphone. She wasn't. "My name is Amanda Waller. I am not your mother, your maiden aunt, or your friend. _I_ am your warden, and _you_ are my prisoners. The proprietary collars you wear are custom-designed to inhibit your specific meta abilities," Waller held up a single remote. "No strength, no ice,"

Reese was suddenly immensely glad that she possessed neither of those powers. As Silverbird, her enhanced senses and sonic scream were not, in any way, affected. But, she couldn't say the same about Conner.

"In addition," Waller added. "The collars _can_ and _will_ be used to discipline inmates. A con who _breaks_ the rules gets _one_ warning,"

Waller pressed a button, and electricity suddenly arced from the inhibitor collar into Reese's body, and she felt herself begin to spasm. She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood, lest she Canary Cry and blow their covers _just_ as the mission was starting.

But, as soon as the electricity had started, it stopped, and Reese found herself breathing hard, sweat dripping down the side of her face as Amanda Waller continued speaking.

"If order has _not_ been restored," the dark-skinned woman added. "The next shock will render the offender unconscious. At the slightest _hint_ of trouble, this facility goes into lockdown. Belle Reve's walls are thick enough to hold _Superman_. We know, we checked," At Waller's words about the Man of Steel, both Reese and M'gann glanced inconspicuously towards Conner, but he was already looking towards the floor.

"No one's _ever_ escaped Belle Reve," Waller said firmly. "No one _ever_ will," When she heard a throat clearing, Reese glanced up, noticed a bespectacled man with a goatee standing behind Waller. "Oh," the warden continued, beckoning the man forward. " _This_ is Professor Hugo Strange. He _is_ your maiden aunt,"

"Actually," Strange clarified, his voice having that same tone that all therapists did. "I'm the prison psychiatrist, and I promise you a sincere attempt at rehabilitation,"

"Because," Waller added, though her voice held a certain tone of contempt. "We know you types are _all_ about sincerity,"

Reese hated Amanda Waller already. Hugo Strange seemed nice enough, but there was just something... _off_ about him that she wasn't able to put her finger on. But, it wasn't like Reese was able to focus much on it, because two female guards joined the five prisoners in the courtyard and led M'gann and Reese towards the women's cell block.

As they were going, M'gann set up a telepathic link.

' _Conner,_ ' she began. ' _Can you hear me_?'

' _Y-Yeah_ ,' the genomorph answered. ' _But, I thought the collars--_ '

' _The collar was designed for Tuppence Terror's super-strength_ ,' Reese supplied, keeping her facial expression blank as the two guards led her and M'gann through the cell block. ' _It wasn't designed for M'gann's telepathy,_ '

' _But,_ ' M'gann added. ' _Your strength is--_'

' _Not at Superman's level_,' Conner cut the martian off. ' _I get it,_ '

' _Conner, that wasn't what she--_ '

' _Whatever_ ,' Superboy cut Reese off, but before she could say anything more, the two guards stopped by a cell, and they ushered M'gann inside.

After the door had buzzed shut, the two guards, plus Reese, kept walking, and when they got to the next cell, one opened the door, and the other pushed Reese inside, the girl stumbling as she did so.

When the door shut, the first thing that Reese noticed inside the cell was the woman lying on the top bunk. Though Reese wasn't able to see her face, what she could see was a head of straight, dark red hair, and pale skin.

The woman then turned over to face Reese, and the girl figured she was maybe about Oliver's age, with odd-colored amber eyes.

"What's your name?" the woman asked, sounding remarkably... _kind_ , and Reese stared at her for a moment, warily. This woman _seemed_ familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd seen her before.

"Tamara Terror," she answered finally, putting the Southern accent into her voice that all of the Terror Triplets spoke with. "How about you?"

"My name's Clara," she began. "Clara Robinson. But, you may also know me as--"

" _Candlewick_ ," Reese breathed out, eyes widening as she suddenly remembered where she recognized Clara from. "But, you're a _hero_ , or at least, you _were_. What happened?"

"Wrong place," Clara sighed. "Wrong time. Chicago is a dangerous place, you know. You try to help the wrong people, and the Justice League ends up throwing you in prison for it,"

Two years ago, there was a gang shootout in inner Chicago, that had escalated enough for Batman, Black Canary, and Green Arrow to be called in to help diffuse the situation.

Candlewick, also known as Clara Robinson, was Chicago and the surrounding area's resident vigilante/hero. A meta with the ability of pyrokinesis, she had done good work within the city for almost four years beforehand, but one mistake during that shootout, and she had been sent to prison.

Bruce, Dinah, and Oliver had never told Reese exactly what had happened, and she had never cared to investigate, not when someone with power over fire was concerned.

She was suddenly _really_ glad about the inhibitor collars.

"But, if you're _innocent_ ," Reese continued, swallowing down a lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat after she realized who Clara was. "Then why didn't you tell the League what was going on?"

Clara only shrugged before she answered. "Those kids that were in that gang just got roped into the wrong crowd. They were barely old enough to be in high school, and I couldn't subjugate them to the kind of brutality that is America's prison system,"

"So you took the fall for them," Reese realized, and Clara nodded.

"But, the one drawback about being sent to prison was leaving behind my son," Reese tilted her head to the side, and after a moment, a sad smile appeared on Clara's face as she reached underneath her bunk's pillow and grabbed out a faded photograph, showcasing a boy about Reese's own age with blond hair, though his other facial features were clearly reminiscent of his mother.

"What's his name?" Reese asked quietly, and Clara sniffled as she studied the photograph.

"Cooper," she answered simply. "Cooper James Robinson. His father, James Sr., died a month before Cooper was born, so it was up to me to raise my son on my own. He sends me letters every day, you know? Telling me how his days at school have been, what friends he's made. After I came here, my husband's sister took Cooper to live with her in Clarendon Hills. As far as I know, he's doing well,"

"You don't get to see him?" Reese asked, but Clara shook her head.

"No," she answered simply. "Warden Waller doesn't allow visitors. Professor Strange, though, he's been keeping in touch with Alia, Cooper's aunt, and he conveys her messages to me regularly,"

"You don't really seem like Belle Reve material," Reese said after a moment and Clara glanced over at her, an almost conspiratorial look coming over her face.

"Neither do you, _Tamara_ ," she said, and Reese's eyes widened.

Was she _really_ that bad of a liar that the Team's entire investigation had been compromised just because she decided to talk with her cellmate? She must have looked fairly freaked out because Clara gave her a small smile.

"You don't need to worry," the woman told her calmly. "I hold no qualms against the League for putting me in here. If I wanted to, I could've told them the entire story, I could've told them the truth, but I didn't, and as such, the only way I get to communicate with my son is through snail mail,"

Reese, though her guard was still up, relaxed the tiniest bit, wringing her hands together as she glanced up at Clara again. "I think your son would be proud to know that you protected those boys," she said. "You were a hero, you're probably _his_ hero. I think that's pretty admirable,"

"It may be," Clara said. "But, I never wanted Cooper to have to deal with this life. This life of heroes and villains, right and wrong, black and white. As long as he doesn't inherit my powers over fire, he will be alright,"

"Inherit your powers?" Reese echoed, scrunching her eyebrows together. "Is your pyrokinesis genetic?" _Great_ , Reese thought sarcastically. _That's all I need._

But, Clara shook her head. "Truthfully?" she asked. "I'm not sure. Neither of my parents had superpowers, but my grandfather on my mother's side had it, and he passed it to me, so..." She trailed off, and Reese tilted her head to the side.

"Maybe it skips a generation?" she asked, and Clara let out a small half-sigh/half-laugh.

"Maybe," she answered softly, before shaking her head abruptly and turning back to Reese. "Well, it's getting late. Wake-Up is at five o'clock sharp, and the guards wait for no one. It's best to sleep while you can,"

"How did you survive here for two years?" Reese asked as she climbed onto the thin bottom bunk mattress, placing her head onto the flimsy pillow that lay on the end as Clara hummed above her.

"I focused on the good things," the older woman answered simply, and that was that.

➳➳➳

The next morning, all of the women of the cellblock were led into an indoor courtyard, where sunshine filtered through a skylight overhead. Through a thick-paned glass window, Reese was able to see the men's side, and through walked Icicle Jr. and Conner, whom Reese assumed were cellmates with each other. That was an odd coincidence.

Clara walked over to the other side of the courtyard, so Reese decided this would be a prime time to meet up with M'gann, who had been stuck sharing a cell with Killer Frost. Not that Reese didn't like Clara, but right now she wished that Candlewick possessed cryokinesis instead of pyrokinesis. Ice instead of fire.

When Reese sidled up next to M'gann, the two undercover heroes didn't say anything to each other, and instead, Reese studied where Killer Frost stood next to the window separating their courtyard from the men's.

Since their mission was discovering why two more of the ice villains that attacked during Independence Day _both_ wanted to get sent to Belle Reve, it meant studying the ones that were already here, because there was no way _that_ was a coincidence.

But, suddenly, Professor Ojo, the villain who helped the League of Shadows release the F.O.G. on Wayne Tech, tackled Icicle Jr. to the ground.

"Hello, _Junior_ ," Ojo sneered. "I warned you what would happen next time we crossed paths,"

"Oh, oh," Junior scrambled for an excuse. "Buddy, pal, _mi_ _amigo_ \--" Before Ojo could punch Junior's lights out, Conner knocked the criminal away from Icicle Jr.

"Get off of him!" he shouted before Conner punched Ojo straight in the helmet, knocking the criminal back several feet. Brick and his goons stared down at the dazed Ojo for a moment before Brick looked up at Conner.

"Boy," he began roughly, cracking his knuckles. "That was not wise,"

As one of Brick's goons grabbed Junior, the others surrounded Conner in a loose circle, with Brick himself grabbing Conner under his shoulders so Ojo could get a clear shot when suddenly, Ojo froze.

"Wait," he said slowly. "I know him. He's--" Before Ojo was able to blow their cover, Conner had thrown Brick clean over his shoulder, the arms trafficker slamming into Ojo and throwing both of them to the ground.

"Not wise," Brick sneered as he sat up. "Not wise at all,"

"Don't you understand?" Ojo asked, setting a hand on Brick's shoulder to get the other man's attention. "He's--"

' _He's Tommy Terror_!' Suddenly, Reese heard M'gann's voice in her head, and Ojo's face seemed to turn blank for a moment before he turned back to Brick.

"He's Tommy Terror," Ojo answered wearily, and for a moment, all Reese could do was stare at M'gann in shock.

"Did you know you could do that?" she asked, but M'gann shook her head.

"No," she answered, and Reese's eyes widened even more before the two of them turned back to the fight in the other courtyard, just as a forceful voice echoed through the room.

" _Enough_ ," Icicle Sr., the father of one Icicle Jr., stood up from where he, along with Mr. Freeze and Captain Cold, were sitting on a group of bleachers against the wall. "Kid's got guts. The kind of guts a father wouldn't mind seeing in his own son,"

Junior stumbled back to stand next to Conner, rotating his shoulder with a grimace of pain on his face. "Great to see you too, Dad," he muttered, but Senior only stared at his son with contempt lacing his voice.

"Get over here," he snapped, but when Conner went to follow, Brick swung an arm out, hitting Superboy in the chest and stopping him in his tracks. "Not you, Terror," Senior said. " _Just Junior_ ,"

Then, considering Reese couldn't very well see the two Icicles without turning her head almost 180° on her neck, she had to rely on her _other_ abilities. Super-hearing had its advantages.

" _Alright Icicle_ ," Mr. Freeze spoke first. " _We're all here. Now what_?"

" _Now we put the final pieces in place,_ " Senior answered simply before he dropped the metaphorical bombshell. " _To bust every single con out of Belle Reve,_"

This was bad, Reese realized. This was really, _really_ bad.

➳➳➳

Later that day, when everyone was inside their cells, Reese heard the sound of squeaky wheels get closer before the small vent in the cell door slid open, two new orange jumpsuits falling through.

Slowly, she stood up from her bunk and picked both jumpsuits, and turned around without a word to hold one out to Clara, who only shook her head.

"If Icicle Senior is doing what I think he's doing," the former Candlewick began. "I won't need that. My natural body temperature, because of my _abilities_ , is a toasty one-fifteen. The collar may inhibit my power over fire, but it doesn't take away my body temperature,"

"Is that why it's always been so warm in here?" Reese asked, and Clara nodded. She had noticed it when she first arrived the day before but hadn't commented on it.

"What about you?" Clara asked suddenly as Reese slipped out of her old jumpsuit and into her new one. "You seemed... _relieved_ when we met and you realized I didn't have my powers. I don't mean to pry, and if whatever mission you're on prohibits you from telling me, that's okay, but I _would_ like you to be honest with me,"

If she did this and told Clara part of her backstory, and it turned out that Candlewick wasn't _really_ on her side, then Silverbird would've given out _Rhysalin Queen's_ backstory to a villain. And then, if she dug deep enough, Clara would be able to find out the identities of Green Arrow, Red Arrow, Black Canary, and to an extent, Batman and Robin.

She couldn't risk it.

"I'm sorry," Reese said finally. "...I can't,"

Instead of getting angry with her, Clara only gave Reese a smile, before patting the spot on the mattress next to her. Warily, Reese hopped up next to her, and Clara stared at the wall for a moment before she spoke.

"When I first discovered my powers, I was seven years old," she began. "My grandfather had taken me and my parents out camping in Montana for the week, _way_ up in the Rocky Mountains, near Beartooth Pass. One night, we had lit a campfire, when I noticed that, whenever I walked away for a minute to get something or another from the tent, the fire would flicker, and almost die. At this point, I knew about my grandfather's powers, we all did, so he would be able to relight it, but it wasn't until he had gone to get something from his car, and then _I_ left to get more marshmallow skewers, that the fire died out completely,"

"You were the one doing it," Reese realized, and Clara nodded.

"At first, I was terrified, I thought I was going to spontaneously combust or something, but my grandfather--" A soft smile curled Clara's lip, and Reese had a feeling that the two of them had been close. "He knew what was going on, and he taught me to control the flames, to control the way people saw the heat mirages I gave off, and make sure I didn't accidentally burn somebody,"

Everything else seemed pretty cut-and-dry, but there was still one thing that, to Reese, seemed a bit confusing.

"What are... _heat mirages_?" she asked, and Clara glanced over at the younger girl. Of course, Reese _knew_ what a mirage was, but she wondered how Candlewick's powers factored into the whole thing.

"Essentially," Clara began. "They're illusions. If I could, I would demonstrate for you, but the collar kind of inhibits that,"

"Isn't that the point?" Reese asked, and Clara let out a small laugh, and despite it, Reese found herself smiling as well. Suddenly, she heard Conner's voice inside her head, through the mental link that M'gann had established between the three of them.

' _The break is coming_ ,' Conner began. ' _Sooner than later_ ,'

' _Updating Aqualad now_ ,' M'gann answered. Kaldur was their handler for this undercover mission, and he and Red Tornado were currently outside the limits of Belle Reve, waiting in the Bioship.

' _Time to pull you out,_ ' Aqualad said firmly. ' _Calling the League--_ ' before he could continue, Reese cut him off.

' _Bad idea_ ,' she told the Atlantean simply. ' _Icicle would most likely only postpone the breakout until later,_ '

' _Reese is right,_ ' M'gann added. ' _What we need is to learn how they're busting out, or they'll just try again_,' Though he sighed, and sounded increasingly reluctant, Aqualad agreed, and the mind-link with their Atlantean friend was severed. After she was back inside her own head, Reese turned to Clara, who gave a strangely understanding look.

"Anything I should be worrying about?" the older woman asked, but Reese only shook her head.

"Nope," she answered simply, before twisting her wrist.

Out of Reese's sleeve appeared the golden arrowhead from Kent Nelson, which she had managed to smuggle into Belle Reve without the guards or Amanda Waller noticing. As Reese ran her fingers along the arrowhead's smooth surface, she began to think a few things over.

It wasn't like Dick didn't _know_ that she was undercover with M'gann and Conner, but not being able to talk to the Boy Wonder every day, not being able to _see_ him, that was what wore down on Reese the most.

Inside the arrowhead was Dick's last note, which he had sent just before Silverbird, Miss Martian, and Superboy were "arrested" in New Orleans.

_Fii în siguranță, pasăre drăguță_ , it said. In Romanian, the words almost directly translated to _Be safe, pretty bird._

Thinking of the way that Reese kept lying to Dick by keeping from him the intel about the potential mole made a sickly feeling arise in her throat.

They told each other _everything_. Reese had never truly lied to him before, and she hated doing it now. She could only hope that, when Robin finally found out about the mole, that he didn't completely hate her.

➳➳➳

In the afternoon was the _Terror Triplets'_ first therapy session with Professor Strange. The professor's office was painted a muted beige and had a small waterfall with a bonsai tree on a nearby table.

Reese figured that the decor was meant to be calming, but there was still something off about the man, and Reese couldn't for the life of her pinpoint what it was, and that was _annoying_.

So, as of right now, Reese, in her Tamara Terror disguise, found herself sitting between a distracted M'gann and a brooding Conner when suddenly, Strange himself spoke.

"Here's my concern," the man began from where he was sitting across from the three of them in another armchair. "Your anti-social tendencies are a roadblock to rehabilitation and are often the result of a conflict with a mother figure. Hmm?"

Glancing to her side, Reese saw the look on M'gann's voice and knew exactly what she was going to say before she said it. This...was _not_ going to end well.

"It's...really more of a father figure thing," the martian began, the southern twang in her voice prominent, and Reese put her head in her hands, pressing her palms against her eyelids.

" _Interesting_ , Tuppence," Strange said after a moment. "Expand on that,"

"Or _don't_ ," Conner snapped, channeling Tommy Terror as Reese slid down in her chair, wishing this whole thing was over already.

"Healing requires open dialogue, Tommy," Strange told the boy simply, before turning his attention back to M'gann. "Go on, my dear,"

"Well," M'gann began slowly. "He won't admit it, but _Tommy_ really wants to be like his--our father. Be able to fill Pa's shoes, you know? But, Pa's distant at best. Refuses to give Tommy the time of day. It makes... _Tommy_ feel unworthy of--"

Suddenly, Conner got up from his chair, and Reese was suddenly wishing she were anywhere else at the moment.

"Well," he began sharply. "Maybe Tommy refuses to live in Tuppence's stupid fantasy world where every problem's solved in half an hour!" Reese had no idea what they were talking about, but it was giving her a headache, and as she rubbed a crease between her eyebrows, Strange spoke up again.

"Excellent," the professor said, causing Reese to look at him through her fingers, one eyebrow raised. _What?_ "I think we made a real breakthrough today,"

If ' _Tommy Terror_ ' losing his temper was what Hugo Strange counted as a breakthrough, then sure, whatever he said.

➳➳➳

That night was when everything went a bit wonky.

Superboy had sent the message, saying the "Great Escape" was about to go down, and Reese and Clara were sitting in their cell when suddenly, the small orange lights that were on the front of Clara's inhibitor collar suddenly shut off, and twin licks of orange and red flames slithered up both of the woman's arms, vaporizing her inhibitor collar within the span of five seconds.

At the sight of the fire, Reese skittered back a few steps, but Clara quickly extinguished the flames, holding her hand out in a gesture of what Reese figured was supposed to be comforting. It didn't help.

"It's alright!" she said quickly once the flames were gone from her skin. "They're gone. I'm not going to hurt you,"

Quickly, before her adrenaline sent her senses into hyperdrive, Reese tried to control her breathing, lest she accidentally gave herself an anxiety attack, which had happened before on more than one occasion.

Then, once her breathing was under control, Reese reached up and took off her inhibitor collar, letting the device clatter to the floor. It wasn't like it had been affecting her before, but it felt good to finally have that clunky piece of metal off her neck.

"We have to find my uh... _sister_ ," Reese got a weird taste in her mouth when she said that, considering her only real biological sister was dead, but frankly, she could worry about that later. As it were, Reese and Clara found M'gann with Killer Frost, Devastation, and Shimmer, cornering a female guard who had fallen to the floor.

"Please!" the woman exclaimed, holding her hands up in front of her. "I have a family,"

"Oh, beg some more," Frost sneered, morphing a spiked ball around her hand and lifting it above her head. "It's much sweeter that way,"

"No!" M'gann shouted, before using her telekinesis to destroy Frost's weapon and causing the blue-skinned woman to spin around in shock.

"Well," she began. " _Tuppy,_ aren't you just filled with hidden talents?" Reese's eyes widened as she realized that, this time, their cover really _had_ been blown.

Before M'gann was able to alert Superboy, Killer Frost had already frozen her within a block of ice. Then, Frost's attention turned to Reese and Clara, who were staring at the frozen martian, eyes wide.

"What about you, little _Tammy_?" Frost sneered, and Reese shifted her feet back, getting into a ready stance. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd be able to do, but it was worth a shot. "Are you like your sister? Do you have any hidden talents?"

"Just one," Reese smirked, mentally hoping that Conner got here quick before she turned and muttered three words to Clara. "Cover your ears,"

The woman who used to be Candlewick looked confused for a moment before her eyes widened, and the second Clara's ears were covered by her hands, Reese turned to where Frost was standing with Shimmer and screamed.

The Canary Cry consisted of layers upon layers of hypersonic sound waves, all placed over one another at intervals that made it practically impossible to dodge. They left Reese's voicebox at a frequency that was almost too high for the human ear to process but it was forceful, more forceful than anything Dinah had ever accomplished, and _was_ so forceful that it blew Killer Frost and Shimmer back far enough that they both flew through the wall of the women's cell block laundry room, just as Conner bust through the wall himself from the other side.

For a moment, Superboy glanced around, a bit confused at why Killer Frost and Devastation had suddenly flown through the wall, when he noticed M'gann frozen in the block of ice, and his face dropped like it had when Superman had refused to acknowledge his existence after Project Cadmus.

"Dude!" Junior cried out as he ran through the hole Devastation and Frost had made. "Anyone care to explain what just happened?" Neither Conner nor Reese answered, with the former walking over to the ice block that M'gann was frozen in, and that, it seemed, was enough of an answer for Icicle Jr. "Aw, Dudes," he muttered. "I'm sorry," Conner gently wiped some condensation away from where it had begun to fog up the ice as Junior continued his lament. "And she was such the total babe!"

At that, Reese paused, glancing over at Conner to see how he reacted, but he was too distracted staring at the frozen M'gann to give her much of a response. But, what did catch Reese's attention was when Conner drew his fist back as if he were going to punch the ice M'gann was trapped in, and that prompted Reese to quickly grab Conner's fist.

"No!" she exclaimed, but didn't back down, even when Conner turned to glare at her. "You could shatter her,"

"I might be able to help," a soft voice said after a moment, and all three of them turned to look at Clara, who was the one who had spoken. "My powers could allow me to heat the ice enough to melt it, without hurting your friend,"

Conner and Reese exchanged a glance before Superboy turned back to Candlewick.

"Do it," he said simply, and Clara gave a nod before she walked forward and took a deep breath, setting her hands on the ice, where they began to glow a subtle red-orange, getting brighter with every passing second.

The temperature in the room began to rise too, and from the corner of her eye, Reese thought it looked like maybe Junior was the one who was melting. Finally, the ice that had been surrounded M'gann dissolved into a large puddle, dropping Reese's Martian friend to the floor, though Conner caught her before she was able to hit the ground.

When Reese saw Conner _finally_ kiss M'gann, internally, she squealed. She may have squealed out loud too, and it may have been a bit louder than humanly possible, considering the look that Clara sent her.

Reese also found it funny that, as M'gann's Tuppence Terror disguise melted into her regular outfit, green skin and all, Icicle Junior realized that he had been truly and royally duped. It also felt very satisfying when Reese was finally able to send a right hook straight to Junior's jaw, knocking the older teen unconscious in one fell swoop.

"You're Silverbird," It wasn't a question, and Clara's voice held a certain tone of finality.

"I'm--" Reese went to apologize, but Clara only held up a hand.

"There's no need to apologize," she said simply. "I told you I held no qualms against the Justice League, and that includes their proteges. You did a brave thing coming here. I'm sure Green Arrow would be proud,"

In order to keep Clara from seeing how embarrassed she'd gotten from the compliment, Reese did what she did best...changed the subject.

"You can leave, you know?" she asked. "You can get out, get back to Chicago, see your son. I can vouch for you!" At that point, Reese was rambling but was stopped again when Clara held up her hand.

"It's alright," she answered. "I intend to serve my remaining two years _within_ the law. Once I get released, I will reunite with Cooper and Alia, and hopefully, things can return to a sense of normalcy,"

"Are you sure?" Reese asked, and Clara nodded.

"I'm sure," she answered. "Now, go," Though the twelve-year-old archer was more than a little morose at having to leave Clara behind in Belle Reve, she was inclined to think that the pyrokinetic had a point.

Maybe now, things _would_ get back to normal.


	17. 15. Homefront

**S T A R C I T Y  
September 22, 08:45 PDT**

It was common knowledge, to anyone she knew, that Reese was distrusting in most people. Maybe it was the fact that she'd spent almost an entire year on the streets of Star City _before_ being taken in by Roy and Oliver, or the fact that she just found most people incompetent.

Whatever the reason, once the adoption papers had been signed by one Oliver Jonas Queen, and once the ten-year-old Reese had stated, in no uncertain terms, that she would _not_ be attending school, the homeschooling had begun.

Dinah was her primary teacher. And so, here the two were, almost three years later, in one of Star City's parks, coincidentally the same one where Reese had first shown Dick the golden arrowheads she had gotten from Kent Nelson, about a month ago now.

"Okay," Dinah began as she sat across from Reese at a cement picnic table near the center of the park, different books spread out between them. "What did I say today's subject matter was?"

"History of the Justice Society," Reese answered simply, and Dinah gave her protege a nod.

"Good," she said, before clasping her fingers together over the table. "Now, tell me what you know,"

"Dinah," Reese began. "Why do we have to do this? It's bad enough that Captain Atom's our teacher on covert ops. I don't _need_ to know about the first team of superheroes when I can very well just go and ask Jay Garrick about it,"

Jay Garrick, also known as the _very_ first Flash, had been a founding member of the Justice League's predecessor, along with Dr. Fate, Alan Scott's Green Lantern, and a few others.

Dinah gave the young brunette a slightly disapproving look before she gave an answer. "I'll admit," the older blonde woman began. "It isn't exactly my cup of tea either, but you know, Reese, you're going to have to learn about it _sometime_ ,"

"I'll go and ask Jay about it," she answered simply. " _In_ Central City," Dinah stared at Reese for a moment, before her eyes widened, and she gave the brunette a sly grin that instantly made Reese suspicious.

"Are you _sure_ you're upset about learning about the Justice Society?" Dinah asked. "Or is it because a certain _Boy Wonder_ is starting the school year all the way in Gotham City, and you're still being homeschooled on the opposite coast?"

"What?" Reese asked, genuinely confused, though the tell-tale red blush on her face told a different story. " _No_. I mean, why would I care that Artemis is starting at Gotham Academy, and Dick's the only other one on the Team who knows who she really is, but he can't tell anyone because he promised me he wouldn't and Artemis doesn't even know that he's Robin and--"

At this point, Reese had begun to ramble as her thoughts started to get away from her, but Dinah managed to stop her babbling by placing her hand on top of Reese's twitching fingers.

"Baby bird," Dinah began. " _Slow down_. What do you mean, Dick's the only other one who knows who Artemis really is?" When she realized what she had just revealed, Reese looked down at her lap, taking her hands out from underneath Dinah's and wringing her fingers together.

"Uh..." she started. "Well, I _may_ or may _not,_ have asked Dick to run a background check on Artemis after she first joined the Team,"

" _Reese_ \--" Quickly, the brunette cut Dinah off.

"I know!" she said hurriedly, saying her next words all in one breath. "I know it was wrong because everyone deserves their secrets, but it was after Dad first introduced us, and then I was worried that he was replacing me, and--"

Again, Reese had begun to ramble, and again, Dinah was the one to cut her off as a cool September breeze blew through the nearby oak tree whose leaves were just starting to change color, only this time, her words weren't spoken with disapproval, but with pride.

"You just said ' _Dad',_ " Dinah said, and Reese glanced up.

"Huh?" she asked, and after a moment, Dinah continued.

"Oliver," she said simply. "You referred to him as _Dad_. You've never done that before,"

"I haven't?" Reese echoed, before shrugging. "Hmm, well I guess now would be as good a time as any to start, considering my biological father was a scientist who thought it'd be a good idea to mess around with something in my DNA that gave me superpowers,"

Again, Dinah looked a bit shaken, but Reese brushed it off.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter," she told Dinah quickly. "I mean, it's not like my parents would be able to tell me exactly _why_ they thought messing with my genes would be a good idea unless you have an ouija board lying around somewhere that I don't know about,"

"Reese," Dinah began again, her eyes turning softer, and a bit more understanding. "I can't say that I know _exactly_ what you're going through, because I don't, but I want you to know that I'm here for you. We all are. Me, Oliver, Dick, if you need _anyone_ to talk to about this--"

"Dick already knows," Reese interrupted, and Dinah gave a small smile.

"I assume he was the first person you told?" the older woman asked, and Reese gave a tiny nod, before she glanced down, where her golden arrowhead hung on a chain.

Gently, Reese pulled the long necklace over her head, setting the arrowhead on the table before the end popped open, revealing a new note that she actually hadn't read yet. As much as she enjoyed "passing notes" with Dick when they weren't able to see each other, Reese had to admit that using the paper had begun to get a little bit cumbersome.

Yeah, these two artifacts _were_ thousands of years old and had been used for centuries before Kent Nelson gave them to Reese at the Tower of Fate, but now, they _were_ in the twenty-first century, and as such, not many people sent letters anymore.

_Whatcha doin'?_ The note read, and Reese glanced upward, only to see that Dinah had walked away from where the two of them were sitting, instead opting to move over to a nearby soft pretzel cart, where she began to speak to the vendor.

_Nothing much_ , Reese wrote quickly, taking out the small ballpoint pen that she had begun to carry around and beginning to scratch out a message. _Aren't you in school right now?_

_Lunch break,_ Dick answered. _Hey, did you know Artemis was going to Gotham Academy now?_

At this, Reese couldn't help but roll her eyes. She wanted to like Artemis, truly she did, and for a while, the blonde had begun to prove herself within the team. But...she was in no way sure of what it was, but Reese had a bad feeling. She couldn't help but think that Artemis was somehow going to mess up their _rhythm_ , so to speak.

For years, it had been her, Roy, Wally, Kaldur, and Dick. Reese had to admit, she didn't spend as much time with Kid Flash or Aqualad outside of the Team as she probably should, but Wally and Dick hung out regularly, so that was something.

And maybe it was because it seemed like Green Arrow had replaced Speedy with Artemis almost immediately after Roy went solo, but at the moment, Reese _really_ wished she was in Gotham. Dick could obviously take care of himself, I mean, _hello,_ he was the protege of the Batman for crying out loud, but still...

_Yes_ , she wrote back finally. _I knew. Boy Wonder, you were the one who told me._

_Oh, right_ , Dick's next note admitted. _I forgot. So, what are you up to, pretty bird?_

Even though he wasn't able to see her across the 2,981.1 miles it was between Gotham City and Star City, Reese, though she was by now far used to the affectionate nickname, blushed.

_Dinah's schooling me on the Justice Society_, she answered the Boy Wonder. _We're also about to eat pretzels. Kinda wish I was in Gotham though._

_Why?_ Dick asked as Dinah sat down across from Reese again, sliding a salted pretzel in a paper wrapping to her side of the table, along with a small cup of nacho cheese. _Rhysalin, you've always said you hated interacting with civilians._

At his words, Reese scoffed out loud, because _no_ , she had never said _exactly_ that. Before she was able to write a note back, Dinah spoke again.

"What'd Dick do now?" she asked, tearing off a small piece of pretzel before she ate it, and Reese sighed.

"He said I hate interacting with civilians," she answered, and Dinah raised an eyebrow.

"Do you?" she asked, and Reese threw her hands out to either side.

"No!" she exclaimed. "That's just it. I _don't_ hate interacting with civilians, it's just...I think if I _were_ to have civilian friends, which you know, I _don't_ , I think my work as Silverbird would eventually just dissolve the friendship as a whole,"

Reese, if she were being honest with herself, at one point, _did_ want to attend you know, a _normal_ school, have normal friends, but she had eventually withdrawn from it, after an incident in Star City had stopped her from ever fully trusting a civilian her age again.

That wasn't her being cynical, it was her being honest.

About a year ago, around Halloween, Green Arrow, Speedy, and Silverbird had been patrolling as usual, when an alert of a robbery-in-progress had caused Oliver, Roy, and Reese to separate from each other.

Her adoptive father and brother had gone to deal with the altercation, while Reese had continued on with the patrol. Roy hadn't been happy about that but eventually conceded when Reese promised him a movie night once they were done.

Just as she was finishing, Silverbird had caught the sound of someone screaming, and had discovered a girl about her age being cornered by an older man in an alley.

Now, Star City may not be as bad as Gotham in terms of the city's crime rate, but walking around the Glades at night was not something that was recommended for most people.

So, Reese stepped in, and shot a smokescreen arrow towards the man, causing him to cough and use his hand to wave away the cloud. Before he had fully regained his bearings, Silverbird decked the perp with a right hook that made him fall to the ground with a grunt, out cold.

Or at least, Reese _thought_ he had been unconscious. When she went to see if the girl the man had been cornering was okay, the "victim's" entire demeanor changed, and Silverbird suddenly found herself being yanked backward and onto the ground.

Her head snapped against the concrete, giving her a small concussion, and as her blackening gaze cleared, Reese found herself staring up at the man she had just knocked out, now obviously awake, smirking as he cracked his knuckles.

"Wow, Dad," the other girl scoffed. "You were right, the heroes in this city _are_ gullible,"

"We're not gullible if we think we're saving someone's life," Silverbird cut in, clenching her jaw as the other girl took a baseball bat out from behind her, swinging it around a bit.

"As you can see, little birdie," the girl's father sneered. "No one needs their life saved at the moment. Except, you know, maybe _you_ ,"

Then, he took a switchblade out of his jacket pocket, but before he was able to slice or stab her with it, Reese threw her foot up, catching the man right in the crotch and causing him to let out a gasp of pain, falling to his knees on the ground.

Silverbird used her hands to flip herself up to her feet and faced the father-daughter duo head-on. It seemed her cheap shot to the other girl's dad hadn't taken him out of the fight, only made him angrier.

"Get her!" the man shouted as he hunched over on the ground, his face a blazing thunderhead of anger mixed with pain, and the man's daughter sprinted forward, hefting her bat up in the air.

But, due to the way that Reese was almost able to see an opponent's next attack coming, she spun, throwing her foot out in a wide arc. Her heel hit the girl's wrist, and there was a sharp ' _crack_ ', before the girl let out a cry, dropping her bat as she used her other hand to encircle her injured wrist, holding it gingerly.

Then, Silverbird reached up, tapping her commlink and patching her through to Speedy and Green Arrow.

" _Silverbird_!" Oliver spoke first. " _Where are you_?" Before Reese was able to answer, the girl's father finally stood to his feet, his mouth twisting into a scowl enough to rival Roy's whenever he and Ollie got into an argument.

"A _little_ preoccupied," Silverbird said slowly, keeping her eyes firmly on the man in front of her should he make a move. "I can handle it,"

" _Where are you_?" Green Arrow repeated, his voice now turning concerned, but the girl's father suddenly threw his fist towards Silverbird, and she needed to dodge, keeping her from answering Oliver.

"In the Glades," Reese said finally, hopping onto a nearby dumpster, and therefore giving herself a somewhat higher vantage point. "An alley off the corner of Hickory Street,"

" _We're on our way,_ " Roy said. " _Just hold on a bit longer, Silverbird_ ,"

"Oh, please," Reese scoffed into her commlink, leaning back a few inches when the father swung his switchblade towards her face. "I can do this all night,"

Needless to say, she _had_ been able to hold her own in that little skirmish, even though the girl's father was at least twice Reese's size, and probably 200 pounds soaking wet of pure muscle.

Now, back in the present day with Dinah, Reese turned back to Oliver's girlfriend, speaking again about the fact that she didn't _trust_ civilians, not that she disliked them.

"Do you remember Halloween last year?" she began, and Dinah raised an eyebrow. During the altercation in the alley, Black Canary had been absent, simply because she had needed to deal with Justice League business elsewhere.

"What does that have to do with the fact of you not trusting civilians?" she asked finally, and Reese sighed.

"That night..." she began slowly. "In the alley, that's when I started to doubt the credibility of so-called _normal_ people,"

"Reese--" Dinah's voice was soft, but Reese recognized it as her ' _psychiatrist voice_ ', the one she used whenever she needed information, and that was made Reese cut her off.

"No, here me out," the brunette began. "For the last three years, I have done my best to be a good hero. Working with Batman, and Robin, and the League, _that's_ what I'm good at. Now, after the alley, I _don't_ hang out with normal people because they don't _understand_. That night, I thought I was rescuing someone and that act benched me for two weeks because I didn't realize that that girl and her father were trying to lure one of us into a trap,"

"Baby bird, you can't blame yourself for that," Dinah spoke calmly. "You couldn't have known it was a trap. Roy or Ollie could've been the ones to answer that call, you can't doubt your skills as a hero because you made _one_ mistake,"

"Sure I can," Reese said simply, ignoring the subsequent shocked look on Dinah's face as the twelve-year-old girl ripped off a piece of her uneaten pretzel and tossed it to a hungry-looking pigeon that was nearby. "I'm surrounded by all these _amazing_ heroes every day. Batman, Robin, Flash, Green Arrow, _you_. How am I supposed to amount to anything if all that happens is me messing up while answering a fake distress call? What kind of hero can I be if I can't even save one person?"

"Okay," Dinah's voice suddenly turned sharp, and the edge to it made Reese snap her head upward. " _Stop_. You _are_ an amazing hero, Reese, and you can't let anyone tell you otherwise. You and Robin, you're _partners_ , a force to be reckoned with. I don't care what anyone says about _Batman_ and Robin being the Dynamic Duo. Bruce may have created that moniker, but you and Dick _define_ it. Silverbird, whether you're with Robin or by yourself, with Red Arrow, or Green Arrow, or _anyone_ , you're a hero all on your own. Everyone makes mistakes, nobody's perfect, not even Superman,"

" _Especially_ Superman," Reese muttered under her breath before looking towards Dinah again. "The Man of Steel's a _jerk_. Conner's basically his _son_ , and he won't even give him the time of day,"

"He's working on it," Dinah began, and Reese crossed her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow.

"Hardly," she added, and Dinah gave a conceding shrug, admitting that, yes, Reese had a point.

Reese didn't mean to sound so... _ungrateful_ about her work as Silverbird, but in her experience, dealing with civilians had never ended well.

At least, not for her.

➳➳➳

That night, and because of a _stupid_ three-hour time difference where she was almost late, Silverbird found herself, once again, in Gotham City, sitting on the fire escape above the hidden Zeta tube, which was stashed in an abandoned phone booth.

Reese was sitting on one of the metal stairs, lost in thought. She had actually wanted to go to the cave instead since tonight was the same night she and Aqualad had planned on telling Red Tornado about the possibility of a mole within their team, but Kaldur had said he was able to do it on his own, so here Reese was, in Gotham, wishing she was able to tell the person she trusted most _about_ the mole.

But, Red Arrow had been right in Taipei. Not that there was any possible or conceivable way that Dick would betray them to the enemy, but it was safer for Robin to believe everything was normal. Or, at least, Reese was hoping that was the case. God, she hated lying to him.

She was so lost in thought, that Silverbird didn't hear the subtle rustling of a certain Boy Wonder's cape until Robin himself was already sitting down next to her on the small stair, looking a bit concerned as he gazed at her.

"You okay, pretty bird?" Dick began. "You normally hear me coming long before I jump off the roof. You also don't really look like you're feeling the aster,"

"I'm fine," Reese answered simply, leaning her head against the side of the building the fire escape was connected to. "Just... _thinking_ ,"

"That must be hard," Robin chuckled but winced when Silverbird's hand flew out and slapped his chest. "Ow! Geez, sorry," When Reese didn't look away from where she was staring out into relative space, Dick's face turned serious again. "Hey," he said softly, reaching over and setting one gloved hand on top of hers. "Rhysalin, what's wrong? It's not GA again, is it?"

"What?" Reese asked, genuinely confused, and she finally turned to look at the black-haired boy next to her. "No. No, it's not Arrow. It's me,"

"It's... _you_?" Robin asked, and Silverbird sighed before she elaborated.

"What would you do if you had a secret, _really_ wanted to tell someone about it, but didn't want to ruin potentially everything by telling that person said secret?" There was a sharp clatter as Dick almost tumbled down the fire escape, and Reese glanced over at him, a bit confused.

"Are you okay?" she asked, eyes narrowed in concern, and Robin quickly popped back up to his feet again, brushing himself off, even though he really didn't have any dust on him.

"Dandy," he answered quickly, almost _too_ quickly, and that was what made Reese a little bit suspicious. "I mean, uh, what?"

Silverbird opened her mouth to repeat herself, fully intending on telling Robin the information from Sportsmaster, when suddenly, she caught sight of someone else entering the alley.

_Artemis._

The blonde girl glanced down either side of the alley for a moment, seemingly seeing if anyone was following her, and as such, Dick used her distracted mind as an opportunity to jump off the fire escape, landing in the shadows of the phone booth.

"Artemis?" he asked, his voice taking on a mocked-shocked tone that caused Reese to roll her eyes. That boy was _not_ subtle.

"Robin!" Artemis exclaimed, startled. "I...uh..." She began to stutter, and this was also when Reese jumped off the fire escape herself, landing beside the Boy Wonder with little more than a rustle of gravel.

"How _random_ ," Robin continued. "That you're in Gotham City! Instead of Star City, where your uncle-- _Green Arrow_ \--lives?"

Artemis, looking remarkably similar to a deer cornered by a pair of headlights, began to stutter out an explanation as to why exactly she _wasn't_ in Star City.

"I'm--uh--here to see my cousin!" the blonde exclaimed finally, and Silverbird noticed that, when she needed to be, Artemis wasn't a very good liar. "She was in the state spelling bee! Here...in Gotham...City!"

" _C-O-O-L_ ," Dick spelled out. "Did she _W-I-N_?"

" _N-O_ ," Artemis responded, and Robin's mask lenses quirked.

" _D-R-A-G_ ,"

This time, Reese cut in, rolling her eyes. "Are you two _D-O-N-E_?" she asked, and Artemis blinked for a second before gesturing to the phone booth.

"Yeah," she agreed, jerking a thumb towards the door. "Let's just go to the cave,"

"Ladies first," Robin bowed at his waist, swinging an arm out in some sort of grand gesture, but needless to say, Artemis was _not_ amused.

" _Your_ town," she retorted, putting her hands on her hips. "You go," Dick shrugged, but stepped inside the phone booth anyway, shutting the door behind him.

**_Recognized Robin B-0-1_ **

"You know," Reese began, making Artemis pause as she went to step inside the phone booth herself after Robin had disappeared within the golden glow of the Zeta tube. "You're a _really_ bad liar,"

Artemis just gave Silverbird a dirty look before she stepped into the phone booth herself, the computer instantly recognizing her.

**_Recognized Artemis B-0-8_ **

As soon as the particles from Artemis's own teleportation dissipated, Reese finally stepped into the phone booth herself.

Luckily, the coordinates were still locked in on Mount Justice, so it wasn't like she'd be sent to some random location. _That_ wouldn't be good.

**_Recognized Silverbird B-0-3_ **

As it were, the first thing that Reese noticed when she appeared in the cave was a massive fireball flying straight towards her head. Luckily, she managed to hit the ground a millisecond before she would've been burned alive, and the fireball only singed the very end of her braid.

Through the choking gray smoke that filtered throughout the entire cave, Silverbird saw Artemis and Robin hopping around, with Artemis shooting arrows blindly through the smoke, and Dick throwing birdarangs.

Whenever the birdarangs would hit something, Reese heard a sort-of metallic-sounding ' _clank_ ', and that was what made her suspicious. You know, _aside_ from the fact that the Team's supposedly "secret headquarters" had quite literally, just been compromised.

Did this have something to do with the mole? Did one of her teammates finally decide to betray them all?

"Get down!" Reese heard Robin's shout a split-second before Dick absolutely _body-slammed_ her to the ground, just as another fireball hit the wall right where Reese's head had been just a moment before.

" _Who_ are we fighting?" Artemis shouted as Robin pulled Silverbird to her feet.

"Don't know," he began, before glancing towards Reese. "Can you see anything?"

But, Silverbird was only able to shake her head, multi-tasking as she too began shooting arrows towards the cave's intruders. She was only just able to see the faint outlines of two figures as they made their way towards her, Dick, and Artemis.

"We're sitting ducks by these tubes," Robin continued. "Head for the exit!"

The three of them made a break for it, ducking under a stream of fire that flew their way, but, just as they entered the adjoining corridor, a wave of water cut off their escape route.

"Or _not_ ," Reese heard Dick mutter, a split-second before the wave slammed into the three of them, throwing them against the opposite wall.

Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the wave receded, and Silverbird didn't waste any time as she began to run again, dodging another fireball and spinning around to see that the flaming balls of misery were coming from a higher ledge.

She opened her mouth and let loose a Canary Cry, the hypersonic soundwave buying them seconds of precious time as the fireballs ceased. Though, as she, Robin, and Artemis entered the hallway again, the next fireball that hit the floor turned into a _fire tornado_ and began to chase them down the corridor.

Luckily, they managed to put some distance between them and the fire-tornado by going into Mount Justice's training room, and Dick instantly tapped the commlink that was situated in his ear.

"Robin to Team!" he cried. "Come in, Aqualad!"

"KF!" Reese shouted, trying to patch herself through to Wally, but unfortunately, all she got was static. Then, as if things couldn't _possibly_ get worse, the door to the training blew open, and Silverbird, Robin, and Artemis were all thrown forward.

But, considering there was no way they'd be able to _stop_ without ending up dead, Reese, now blown-dry after the heat from the fire tornado dried her clothes, started running again. Hanging a sharp left, she, Dick, and Artemis ended up in the locker room, and Robin tapped his commlink again.

"Robin to Batcave!" Dick began as they entered the open showers. "Override RG-04! Cave calling Justice League! HOJ/Watchtower! B-Zero-One! Priority Red!"

As the three of them turned on the faucets, hoping to combat the aggressive flames coming their way, an itch began in the back of Reese's brain, and she had the sinking feeling that they were forgetting about something.

"Boy Wonder," she began as Dick began to mutter about the communications being blocked. "Don't you feel like we're forgetting something?"

"Maybe," Robin said quietly, before shrugging. "At least the water's helping,"

But, Silverbird froze, as she suddenly heard the pipes within the walls of the showers begin to creak and groan, small tiles beginning to fall off as every faucet and showerhead sprayed water everywhere.

"Or not," Robin muttered again as the water quickly overtook them. Luckily, though she was almost deathly terrified of fire, Reese was fine in the water, being a proficient swimmer.

Before the water fully took the three of them over, Silverbird took a deep breath and joined Robin and Artemis underwater as Dick swam over to the wall, placing a birdarang against the tiles.

For a moment, the dots on the birdarang blinked, before the wall exploded outward, letting the water out into the adjoining hallway, along with Dick, Reese, and Artemis. As soon as the water around her had dissipated, Reese coughed, trying to get the little water that she _had_ swallowed out of her lungs.

As if you couldn't tell, so far her day had been going _great_. But, they couldn't stop moving, lest they want whoever had attacked the cave to capture them, so the three remaining heroes made their way into Mount Justice's kitchen.

"We need to get lost," Robin said firmly, and Silverbird flicked her eyes wildly around the room before they landed on the ventilation shaft that was above the oven.

"The air vents!" she exclaimed.

"Good!" Dick responded. "Go!" But, as Artemis ran across the common room, Reese noticed that Robin hung back, and he instead turned to face the keypad that was connected to the wall.

"What are you doing?" she asked as Dick pulled up his holo-glove, glancing around to make sure the cave's intruders weren't nearby.

"Downloading the cave's blueprints," he answered quickly. "Could come in--" Robin cut himself off as the sound of clanking footsteps came closer, and Dick quickly grabbed Reese's hand, dragging her over to the vent and pushing her up in front of him.

While in the remarkably large vent, Robin pulled up his holo-glove again, on which he held the cave's blueprints, which essentially served as a map.

"Go left," the Boy Wonder said quickly, and Artemis, who was in front of Reese, did so quickly when suddenly, Silvebird heard something come from behind Robin.

"Go in front of me," Reese said sharply over her shoulder, and Robin's mask lenses narrowed.

"What?" he asked, sounding confused. "Why?"

"Just do it," Still looking a bit confused, Dick crawled between Reese and the wall, before going in between her and Artemis again. Then, Reese listened for what she heard, before going onto her back and kicking Robin forward, causing the Boy Wonder to let out a surprised shout.

Silverbird rolled onto her stomach again, leaping around the corner into the adjoining vent just as a burst of heat and fire came up the tunnel/vent they had just been in, and the flames licked up the sides of Reese's legs.

She could feel the flames burning through her pants, so she hit her shins against the sides of the vent, effectively putting out the flames, though she was still able to see some burns on her skin.

"Are you _crazy_?" Robin cried out, his voice echoing in the vent as he peered down at Reese, and the brunette gave a small smile.

"I saved your life didn't I?" she asked, but Dick didn't seem amused, a muscle in his jaw beginning to twitch, which Reese knew only happened when he was really pissed off. "Sorry,"

Reese turned over onto her stomach, but unintentionally let out a small whimper as the bottom part of her legs moved against the inside of the vents. Maybe her burns were worse than she thought.

"You okay?" This time, Dick's voice was softer than when he had been yelling at her, and when Reese glanced at him, his forehead was creased in worry.

"I'm fine," she answered, before glancing over Dick's shoulder at Artemis, who looked concerned as well. "Really," Robin still looked unconvinced, but it wasn't like the three of them could stay in one place for very long, so Dick relented and turned back to Artemis.

"Take the first right," he huffed as the three began to move again. "There should be a vent cover right in front of you,"

Sure enough, there was, and the three of them dropped down into another tunnel. But, as soon as Reese's boots touched the upper walkway of the cave's generator room, the nerve endings in her legs suddenly felt like they were _actually_ on fire, and she whimpered again.

Robin stared at her worriedly again, before glancing at Artemis. "This way," he said firmly, before running down the nearby stairwell. They had rounded a corner and were running parallel to a side wall, when one of the intruders, a feminine figure engulfed in a cloud of fire, dropped down from the ceiling.

The figure looked around for a moment before she extended her hands up in the air, and more smoke began to spread through the room, bringing with it a wave of heat that prompted Silverbird, Robin, and Artemis to jump off the walkway they were on, eventually landing on the ground level. Well, Dick and Artemis jumped down. Before she was able to move, Dick had already wrapped his arm around Reese's waist, holding her as he jumped down himself.

"You're injured," he said simply when Reese looked to him for an explanation. "We don't need it getting worse,"

That was logical, so Reese accepted that as Dick's answer. But, what she then noticed was the bar on one of the generators had a red meter that was quickly overtaking the green, and Reese grimaced as the glass casing began to crack.

"That's not good," Robin said matter-of-factly as the three of them began running again, steam coming out of nearby pipes as the pressure exceeded the accepted parameters.

As they did so, the pyrokinetic threw more fireballs at them, and because of her injured shins, Silverbird was able to feel the flames beginning to lick at her feet again. Eventually, she, Robin, and Artemis ducked behind a nearby boiler, and despite the perilous danger they were all in, Reese sat down on the ground, lightly peeling away the remnants of her pants' burned-off hem, revealing several ugly-looking red burns around her ankles and up her calves.

They were second-degree, at _least_. Her legs, though Reese knew they weren't felt like they actually _were_ on fire, and she didn't know how much longer she'd be able to keep moving.

"Those look really bad," Reese glanced upward as Artemis spoke, and despite the pain that her lower half was in, Reese gave her friend a small smile.

"Gee, I hadn't noticed," she retorted. Meanwhile, Robin had pulled up his holo-glove and was looking at the blueprints again.

"I _know_ the other access tunnel is here somewhere," he muttered, half to himself, and Silverbird glanced to the side as Artemis pulled up the tunnel's grate.

"You mean this one?" the blonde asked, and Reese sighed, realizing that she'd have to get moving again.

"Come on, pretty bird," Dick said softly, reaching down and helping Reese stand up. "Let's get you up,"

"Leave me here," Reese whispered through gritted teeth as she began to walk, Dick's arm supporting almost her entire weight. "I'll just slow you and Artemis down,"

"No," The sheer tone of _finality_ that was in Dick's voice when he answered her almost made Reese pause. "I'm _not_ leaving you behind,"

Before the brunette was able to respond to that, Robin had placed one of his birdarangs against the boiler, grabbed Silverbird again, and the two made their way into the tunnel just as the boiler exploded, cutting off the pyrokinetic before she was able to reach them.

Dick entered the tunnel first, then stood right underneath the hole and stared up at Reese, his jaw set.

"Jump down," he said firmly. "I'll catch you," Though Reese was more than a little bit skeptical, it wasn't like she had many other options, and sighed heavily before she stepped down through the hole, waiting for the inevitable crash against the ground.

It never came.

Instead, she felt one of Robin's arms lock under her knees, while the other went to support her back. Instantly, just to make sure she herself didn't fall, Reese locked her arms around Dick's neck, and for a moment, the two of them just stared at each other, before finally, Robin spoke.

"You're really light,"

Silverbird scowled at him. "Did you think I _wouldn't_ be?" she asked and heard Artemis snicker as Robin's face turned bright red.

"W-What?" he stammered out, scrambling for an excuse. "No! It's just...just hold on a minute!"

Then, after Dick had set Reese down gently, making sure her burns weren't aggravated any more than they already were, Robin scuttled over to a nearby control box, where he used a batarang to knock the covering off.

Robin then plugged his holo-glove into one of the ports, before making his fingers practically fly across the holo-screen that consequently appeared.

"Locking down the cave's motion and heat sensors to prevent the enemy from tracking us," Dick explained, but Artemis still seemed skeptical.

"And I ask again," the blonde began. "Who _is_ the enemy?"

"Let's find out," Robin responded, this time pulling up prior footage of the cave's security system. "There!" Dick exclaimed as one camera square enlarged enough so that it filled the whole screen.

Within the screen, Reese was able to see M'gann, Conner, and Wally, along with Sphere, within the garage portion of the cave. The speedster, for some reason, was working on Conner's bike as Kaldur walked up to them.

" _Torque wrench_ ," Wally muttered, and after M'gann had levitated the tool to him, Kaldur began to speak.

" _I have been meaning to ask_ ," Aqualad began slowly. " _Any problems juggling schoolwork with your responsibilities here_?"

" _Nope,_ " Superboy answered simply as Wally smirked.

" _Juggling's just one of my many talents. Socket wrench_,"

" _Daily cheerleading practice has presented a challenge,_" M'gann began slowly, before holding her hands up. " _Oh, but my first loyalty is always to the Team. This team,_" Miss M quickly clarified. " _Not the Bumblebees,_ "

Reese knew what Kaldur was doing. He was trying to fish for information (no pun intended), and try to see if any of their teammates were actually capable of betraying them. She didn't think he was doing a very good job of being _subtle_ about it, though.

That notion became further clear at Aqualad's next probe.

" _Artemis starts school today_ ," he said slowly. " _Do you think she will have trouble maintaining her loyalties_?" If Silverbird was alone at the moment, without Robin and Artemis in the vents with her, she would've face-palmed. Subtle Kaldur'ahm was not.

Over Robin's shoulder, Reese was able to see the way Artemis's eyes narrowed, but Reese avoided her gaze when the blonde turned to look at her, as Wally, on the footage, stood up from his spot at Conner's bike.

" _Nah_ ," KF began. " _She'll manage alright. I mean, how much more hostile and annoying--_ " Whatever Wally had been going to say next was abruptly cut off as the cave's hangar door exploded, throwing everyone forward and killing the camera.

"What happened?" Artemis asked as the security feed turned to static.

"The explosion took out the camera," Robin explained quickly. "I'll find another angle," But, no matter how hard Dick tried, each camera feed turned to static, signifying that their Team, no matter their powers or skills, had been beaten. "That's it," Robin muttered finally. "All four are dead," When he noticed the way that Reese and Artemis were staring at him though, Dick quickly backtracked. "Th--The cameras," he stammered out. "I meant the cameras. I'm sure the others are okay. Just give me a sec to find out the fastest route to the hangar," Silverbird hoped her friends were alright, that they were _alive_ because frankly, she didn't want to think of the alternative.

Slowly, Reese lowered herself down so she sat next to Artemis, as the blonde began to rant a bit.

"Yeah," Artemis began as Reese leaned her head back against the pipes that ran down the length of the tunnel. "They're fine. They've all got superpowers. They can handle anything,"

"Silverbird has superpowers," Robin explained, but the brunette sighed heavily as dots began to swim in front of her eyes.

"I don't think I'm going to be screaming at anyone any time soon, Boy Wonder," she said slowly, slightly curling up against the pipes on the wall. "I feel like someone just punched me with the flu," Mask lenses narrowing, Robin crawled across the tunnel before taking off his glove and laying the back of his hand against her forehead.

"Rhysalin, you're burning up," Dick said softly, but Reese only curled in on herself again. She didn't get sick often, but when she did, she got hit _hard_.

This time, though, she didn't think this was purely an illness. Then, as Robin reached towards her leg, and purely on reflex, Silverbird kicked her foot out, making the Boy Wonder jerk back a few inches, before Dick held up his hands.

"It's okay," he said slowly, as Artemis looked on, biting her lip in concern. "Pretty bird, I'm not going to touch it. I promise, I just want to look,"

Carefully, Robin reached down again, gingerly taking the charred and ripped hem of Silverbird's pants and moving the leather-like material out of the way so he'd be able to see her burns from earlier. When Reese heard Dick hiss out a breath from between his teeth, she knew that her wounds weren't pretty. Not that they were going to be _anyway_ , but still...

"How bad is it?" she whispered, making Robin look up at her. For a moment, he and Artemis exchanged a glance, before Dick turned back to Reese.

"Not _too_ bad," he said, but Reese knew that he wasn't telling her the truth.

"Don't lie to me, Boy Wonder," she told him. "Please?"

Dick sighed. "They could be better,"

"Perfect," Reese muttered before the three of them entered the cave's library

"There should be a secret passage behind one of these bookcases," Robin began, and Artemis scoffed.

"Seriously?" the blonde asked, sounding incredulous. "Cliche, much?" Despite the fact that her legs were metaphorically on fire, Reese was still coherent enough to add her own two-cents to the conversation.

"You should see the Batcave," the brunette whispered before suddenly, the sound of clanking reached her ears, and she hissed at Artemis and Robin to ' _be quiet'_. "Someone's coming,"

Quickly, the three of them hid behind a nearby bookcase, and Reese wiped the back of her hand against her forehead, only for it come away glistening with sweat droplets. Ignoring the way Robin was staring at her, Reese looked over her shoulder through the shelves of the bookcase, in time to see a tall figure walking towards them.

"Artemis, Silverbird, Robin," a somewhat familiar voice began, and Reese recognized it as Red Tornado's, but that didn't even make any sense.

Tornado had monitor duty on the Watchtower tonight, filling in for Green Arrow since Ollie and Dinah were on a date, and considering the Zeta tubes were basically offline, things weren't adding up.

"It's Red Tornado!" Artemis exclaimed, rounding the side of the bookcase, but Reese's eyes widened, and she tackled Artemis, rolling both of them underneath a nearby table.

" _Yes_ on the Red," she began, gritting her teeth as her calves scraped against the rough carpet. " _No_ on the Tornado,"

Just as they were about to exit the library, the female android, the one who controlled fire, rounded the corner, and despite the perilous situation, Reese froze. Only when Robin yanked her to the side mere seconds before flames exploded throughout the room did Silverbird jerk from her fear-induced stupor, just as Dick dragged her up on top of the bookshelves.

"Who-- _What_ are they?" Artemis exclaimed as the library's sprinkler system turned on to combat the female android's flames. Eventually, after Robin had pulled on the spine of _The Mysteries of Udolpho_ , the secret passage opened, just as some bookcases fell towards them.

"Did either of you know Tornado had siblings?" Artemis shouted as the three of them, albeit slowly because of Reese's burns, made their way through the passage.

"No," Robin answered simply. They eventually got to the end of the hallway, and Dick went to turn left, but Artemis latched a hand around his wrist, stopping the Boy Wonder in his tracks.

"So, now what?" the blonde asked. "Red Tornado is one of the _powerhouses_ of the League. How are we supposed to take down _two_ of him?"

"They do seem pretty user-unfriendly," Dick said, almost jokingly, but Artemis was most definitely _not_ amused.

"Don't _joke_ ," she sneered. "They--"

Suddenly, the voice of the male ' _Red'_ came over the intercom. " _Attention Robin. Attention Silverbird. Attention Artemis. You have exactly ten minutes to the surrender or the lives of your teammates will be extinguished,_ "

➳➳➳

" _Eight minutes_ ,"

Because there was no way that Reese was going to let those Red Robots end up killing her friends and teammates, she had, reluctantly, convinced Robin and Artemis to not leave her behind, even though the burns on her legs were obviously getting worse.

"We can access the hangar from here," Robin spoke up, just as a roaring sound signified the arrival of a massive tidal wave. "Or not," Dick muttered, and Artemis sent him a dirty look.

"Would you _please_ stop saying that?" she asked, but before they could get very far, likely due to the fact that Reese was slowing them down, the brunette figure, the wave slammed into their backs, throwing all three forward.

The fact that all of the water was salt water was most definitely _not_ helping her burns feel any better. It felt like a thousand pins and needles were stabbing into her ankles and calves all at the same time.

Reese was also metaphorically kicking herself at the moment. The _one_ day she forgot to stash a rebreather in her utility pouches is the day she almost drowns.

Her month so far had been going great. First, the team gets sent to Bialya and loses six months of their lives, then she goes to Taipei with Roy, and Sportsmaster tells her and Kaldur there's a mole on the Team. _Then_ she went undercover to Belle Reve and had to reveal her secret identity to a woman who actually _controlled_ fire.

Reese _officially_ hated September.

Robin, who had been swimming in front of her, handed Reese his own rebreather, and the two of them, plus Artemis, started to swim towards the end of the hallway. But, before they were able to reach the doorway, the male robot, i.e. the one who could control water, hence the tidal wave, rocketed forward through the flooded hallway and locked his massive hand around Reese's ankle, sending a burst of white-hot pain shooting up her leg.

Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, the robot yanked Reese backward, out of Dick's grip, and back the way they had come. Since sound moved almost five times faster underwater than it did in the air, Reese opened her mouth and tried to scream, to see if, somehow, the Canary Cry would disorient the robot.

Alas, that didn't work, because the android's hand flashed out at a speed that was almost too fast for Silverbird to comprehend, and grabbed her neck, cutting off the beginnings of the sonic scream, and then he started to squeeze.

If the fact that she was underwater, and therefore already _without_ oxygen wasn't bad enough, now Reese was getting strangled by a _robot_.

But, before she was able to go fully unconscious, Robin, who along with Artemis, had been staring in shock at what was going on in front of him, suddenly burst into action, swimming forward and grabbing one of Silverbird's own arrows, which had fallen out of her quiver when the three of them had been hit with the tidal wave.

Dick took the arrow, spun it so the arrowhead was pointing downward, and jabbed it dead-center into the android's eye, finally prompting the man-like robot to let go of Reese's throat.

As soon as she, Robin, and Artemis surfaced within the flooded hangar, Silverbird coughed, trying to expel the water that she _had_ swallowed, but needed to dive down again when the pyrokinetic android shot a fireball at her.

From what Reese was able to see in the split-second she was above water, she saw two main things. One, M'gann and Kaldur were currently trapped inside a cage made of fire, while Wally and Conner seemed to be stuck in some sort of crudely-shaped metal.

"You guys okay?" Robin whispered to Wally and Conner as he, Reese, and Artemis resurfaced next to their pseudo-cages.

"Forget us!" Conner shouted, before turning to the higher floor. "Help M'gann!"

"Aqualad!" Artemis called up to their Atlantean friend. "Is she--"

"She is unconscious," Kaldur said slowly, and Reese was able to see the sweat dripping off his forehead. "I fear she-- _we_ cannot survive that much longer,"

The female-like android appeared again, and once again, Silverbird, Robin, and Artemis had to dive down beneath the waterline. Reese was also able to feel her strength slowly slipping away. Frankly, she was surprised she had lasted this long. If her legs getting burned hadn't been what was sapping her energy, running around for the last forty-five minutes definitely would.

That was why, as hard as she could, Reese was barely able to pull herself up onto the steps after she, Dick, and Artemis surfaced again. She coughed, expelling more water from her lungs, as both of the androids cornered the three of them on either side of the stairwell.

What Silverbird _really_ wanted to do was curl up and sleep forever, but Robin grabbing her arm and dragging her behind him into the water kind of dashed that dream. She also knew that wanting to sleep _really_ wasn't a good thing right now either.

Dick pushed his rebreather against Reese's mouth, and the two of them, plus Artemis, swam further down in the flooded hangar, eventually making their way to a nearby grate. Robin pulled the grate cover off, tossing it to the side through the water, and the three of them swam through the vent, eventually making their way to an open spot of air.

Climbing out of the water, Reese flopped herself down on the floor of the vent, ignoring the way her legs felt like they were about to fall off. She also might have blacked out for a second or two, because when Reese opened her eyes, it was to find both Dick and Artemis staring down at her worriedly.

"You need medical attention, like, _now_ ," Robin said, and Artemis gave him a surprised look.

"Don't you have any sort of bandages in your utility belt?" she asked, but Dick only shook his head.

"None that are _dry_ ," he clarified before the male robot's voice came over the intercom again.

" _Six minutes_ ,"

"What about your cape?" Artemis asked again, and Robin raised an eyebrow. Somehow, in all the commotion, the Boy Wonder hadn't lost his cape.

Robin pinched a section of his cape between two fingers, stared at it for a moment before his eyes widened, and he quickly unclipped the large piece of fabric from where it connected to the rest of his costume at his neck. He snapped the fabric through the vent, trying to get as much water off the cape as possible.

Then, Dick tore it in two.

Carefully, Robin lifted Reese's leg a few inches in the air, biting his lip as he tried to wrap the newly torn strip of fabric around the burn without aggravating it. At this point, Reese most definitely had a fever, and the burns on her legs were probably going to get infected no matter what Dick tried to do.

Where the _hell_ was the Justice League? Where the hell was _Batman_?

"What do we do now?" Artemis asked, and Robin glanced up at her as Silverbird shuddered, curling in on herself in an effort, Dick figured, to conserve body heat. Reese was getting worse...and he didn't know what he could do to help her.

"We save them," Robin said finally. "That's how it works,"

"Maybe that's how it's _supposed_ to work," Artemis retorted. "But those robots just took out our five _super-powered_ friends," For a moment, Robin avoided the blonde's gaze, instead opting to look down at Silverbird's limp form.

She was still breathing, that much he was sure of, but the area of her legs from where the female robot had burned them earlier were swollen, ugly, and red, a sure sign of infection. Reese was like this because of him. _He_ was the one she had knocked out of the way in the vents, and she was the one who got burned because of it.

What kind of person was he if he let the girl he loved die because of something he did? There. He said it. Well...thought it, but what difference did it make? Dick Grayson was in love with Rhysalin Queen.

And no one even knew about it. Wally probably thought he did, the speedster kept teasing him about it, but Dick had never specifically told him, and he wasn't planning on it anytime soon.

"Robin?" Artemis's voice drew the Boy Wonder from his thoughts, and he glanced towards the blonde, only to see her staring at him with a rather expectant look on her face.

"Hmm?" he asked, and Artemis sighed.

"What are we supposed to do?" the archer repeated. "How are we supposed to beat _two_ robots who have almost the _exact_ same powers as Red Tornado when almost everyone else is out of the game?"

"You seem distraught," Robin mused, and Artemis finally lost it.

" _Distraught_?" she echoed. "M'gann is _dying_! _Reese_ is dying! The two of us have no powers, and I'm down to my last arrow! _Of course_ , I'm distraught!"

"Well, get _traught_ ," Dick retorted, jaw clenching. "Or get _dead_ ,"

"How can you be so calm?" Artemis asked as the two of them began to make their way through the vent, carrying Reese between them, careful her legs didn't knock against the sides.

"Practice," Robin answered simply. "I've been doing this since I was nine,"

"What good is that now?" Artemis questioned. "What chance do _we_ have against unrelenting machines?" At that moment, a metaphorical lightbulb went off inside Dick's head, and he froze.

"Duh!" he exclaimed suddenly, mentally hitting himself for not seeing the connection sooner. "They're _machines_! And _one_ electromagnetic pulse will shut down any machine within range,"

"Great!" Artemis exclaimed before she scowled at him again. "Except you better have an EMP emitter in your utility belt, because I _know_ I don't have one in my quiver,"

"I'm fresh out," Robin apologized. "But, I'm betting we can make one. What do you say, KF?" he asked, tapping his commlink. "Doable?"

" _Totally doable_," Wally responded, talking through the birdarang that Dick had lodged in the metal he was trapped in. " _You know, if you had more time_ ,"

" _Five minutes_ ,"

➳➳➳

" _Med Lab_ ," Wally directed them first, and Dick mentally praised the speedster. " _You'll need the X-Ray machine,_ "

As the Boy Wonder did that, Artemis had carried an unconscious Reese over to one of the empty beds, set the girl down, and reached beneath the bed, pulling out a tray of various gauze, painkillers, and antibiotics.

Reese's head felt like someone was squeezing it with a vise, and she'd be surprised if her legs, at this point weren't _actually_ on fire.

"What happened?" she whispered, but Artemis only shushed her, much like the blonde had done with Kaldur when he was dehydrated in Bialya.

"Robin's making an EMP emitter," the blonde exclaimed, quickly using a small cloth soaked in some type of antibacterial to wipe the area around Reese's burns. As the soft fabric touched her skin, Silverbird gritted her teeth, bunching the papery covering of the medical bed in her fists. "Sorry," Artemis said quickly, looking genuinely apologetic as she took out a roll of gauze and slowly began to wrap up Reese's calves. "But, using Robin's cape as a makeshift bandage wasn't working very well anymore,"

"You used Robin's cape?" Reese echoed, eyes narrowing. Maybe she had been unconscious longer than she thought.

Artemis nodded. "Yep, considering we couldn't very well use soaking wet bandages without making your burns worse, Boy Wonder over here ripped up his cape and used that instead,"

Reaching up, Reese pulled off her domino mask and set it aside. She, quite frankly, didn't care anymore if the "Reds" saw her without it, she was too tired to care at the moment.

"I didn't tell him," the brunette whispered after a moment, causing Artemis to look over at her, a bit confused until Reese elaborated, that is. "Kaldur, I mean. I didn't tell him about you," Though Artemis didn't say anything, Reese could see that she was grateful, and the brunette gave her friend a small smile.

"--a _ripple_ effect!" Robin's sudden exclamation made both Silverbird and Artemis glance over at the thirteen-year-old, just as he took a large cylinder out of the med lab's x-ray machine. "Like dropping a stone in a pond,"

Through her commlink, Reese heard Wally's voice come through. " _A stone with ten to the twelfth power wattage,_ "

"So, I'll have to hook it up to the cave's main generator," Robin realized, and that was when Reese finally spoke up.

"And that is...where exactly?" she asked, but when she saw the way Dick's face suddenly dropped, Reese had a feeling she already knew.

"Can you walk?" Robin asked, and Silverbird nodded.

"I should be okay," she answered, but when Dick sent her a dubious glance, Reese sighed. "Boy Wonder, I _promise_. Artemis should be the team medic, she's so good,"

Though Robin still looked a bit skeptical, they were running out of time to save the others, so he had to concede, and as such, the three of them climbed through the vents again, exiting them on the walkway that opened up right into the cave's hangar.

"Okay," Robin began, tapping his commlink again once they were in position. "Cue the distraction,"

"Hey!" Wally suddenly shouted, turning towards where the two robots were standing by the fire-cage holding Kaldur and M'gann. "Red Tomato! Who's your girlfriend, Red Onion?"

"Yeah!" Conner agreed. "And by the way, worst deathtrap _ever_! We can escape anytime we want!"

"I can vibrate my molecules outta here before your binary brains can count to two!" While Conner and Wally continue to both distract and aggravate the two red robots, Dick, Reese, and Artemis scurried quickly to the other side of the corridor.

"Cover us," Robin said quickly over his shoulder to Artemis, before giving a nod to Silverbird, who used one of her finally grappling arrows to shoot a line across to the main generator.

Artemis drew back her own bowstring and stood ready while Reese and Dick quickly landed on the edge of the generator. Robin took the newly-made EMP emitter and pushed it into a section on the generator, before plugging his holo-glove into it.

"Rerouting power now," he whispered. But, when nothing happened, Reese raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, Boy Wonder?" she said softly. "Nothing's happening,"

"That's because it isn't working," Dick responded. "The circuit's incomplete. We need something conductive. A piece of metal or--"

"What about this?" Reese held up the arrowhead that Kent Nelson had given her, and for a moment, Dick just stared.

"You're sure?" he asked, and Reese shrugged.

"Gold's a good conductor, isn't it?" she asked, and Robin nodded.

"Well, _yeah_. But, I don't think--"

"Look out!" Artemis's voice came a second too late, as the massive tidal wave was already rising in front of Dick and Reese.

Before either of them could move, out of the way or otherwise, the surging water had already hit the small generator where they were standing. The wave knocked Robin and Silverbird off in one fell swoop, and as soon as she hit the water, Reese blacked out.

➳➳➳

When Reese woke up, it was to find, once again, both Robin and Artemis looking down at her. The twelve-year-old coughed, feeling water coming up from her lungs, and she turned over, as water also dripped down from her hair.

"I no longer like swimming," she muttered, and Reese heard Artemis let out a small laugh, before Reese made herself flop face-down on the platform, wanting to sleep for a long, _long_ time.

Eventually, once she and Robin, plus M'gann and Kaldur, had regained their strength, the four of them, plus Artemis walked down to the ground floor, where Wally and Conner were still trapped within the metal.

"I figured my only shot was to ' _surrender_ '," Robin began. "Pretend to drown before I actually did. Blacked out, though," Reese suddenly elbowed Dick in the ribs, making the Boy Wonder flinch and rub the spot where Reese had jabbed at him. "Ow!" he exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"Next time," Reese clarified. " _Tell me_ when you plan on pretending to die,"

"Sorry," Robin muttered quickly, before glancing down at where the bandages that Artemis had used in the med bay were now properly soaked.

"I need to change the gauze," Silverbird said quietly, shaking her foot out. "Obviously. But, I don't _really_ feel like I'm about to die anymore,"

"Your fever probably broke," Dick said quietly, before waving a hand. "I'm guessing because we took an unplanned swim,"

"Yeah," Reese agreed, crossing her arms. "I'm sure,"

Artemis, who was holding an industrial-strength laser cutter, was standing over by Wally and Conner, and it seemed the speedster's patience had finally run out. Not that he had much, to begin with.

"Will you stop playing with that thing and cut us free already?" the redhead exclaimed, but Artemis only sent KF a dry look.

"It's not working, _genius_!" she retorted. "The EMP shut down _all_ machines, remember?"

"All machines present at the time," Red Tornado said as he flew into the hangar, landing on the ground beside Wally and Conner. "What has occurred?"

"A little visit from your... _family_ ," Robin said, glancing slightly over his shoulder at where the two other red robots lay.

"Your extremely _nasty_ family," Artemis added, and Reese had a feeling that if Red Tornado was able to have facial expressions, he would've looked confused.

"I was not aware I had relations," the robot said stoically, before walking over to the two robots.

"Where have you been?" Conner asked, and this time, Reese was the one who answered.

"You had monitor duty on the Watchtower, right?" she asked, and Red Tornado nodded.

"When it became clear that cave communications were down, I attempted to investigate. But, your Zeta tubes were also non-functional. I transported to Providence, and proceeded here,"

Sphere, the sentient alien ball that Conner had gotten in Bialya, suddenly hummed, before hopping out of the divot it had been stuck in within the wall. When Artemis's laser cutter suddenly turned on as well, sending a burst of light at Wally's feet, a thought shot through Reese's head and her eyes widened.

"The pulse has worn off!" she exclaimed, in unison with Robin and Kid Flash, just as Red Tornado lightly touched the tip of his metal finger against that of the female robot's.

The female robot's eyes glowed red for a moment, along with Red Tornado's, before Tornado flew up into the air and used his powers, making two tornados appear. When Silverbird suddenly couldn't breathe, she realized what their "den mother" was doing. He was sucking the oxygen from the room. Making it so the Team couldn't breathe.

Everything blackened in Reese's vision, and as she fell towards the floor, only one thought ran through her mind...Did this mean that _Red Tornado_ had been the mole?

➳➳➳

Reese decided that she officially hated being knocked unconscious, due to asphyxiation or otherwise. When her eyes blinked open, it was to find both Green Arrow and Black Canary looking down at her, Oliver and Dinah's eyes creased in worry.

As soon as she realized what was happening, Reese had thrown her arms around her adoptive father's waist. Then, after GA had sent a meaningful look towards Barry, the Flash raced off, coming back two seconds later with another tray of medical supplies.

"Sweetheart," Oliver began quietly, peeling off the gauze that Artemis had used earlier and beginning to disinfect Reese's burns again. "What happened?"

"The Reds happened!" Artemis suddenly exclaimed after Superman had asked her the same thing. "Tornado and his--wait, where are they?"

"Gone, Robin answered simply, turning around from where he had been standing with Batman. "All _three_ of them. _Gone._ "


	18. 16. Alpha Male

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
September 23, 06:34 EDT**

For almost as long as she could remember, Rhysalin Queen had hated to lie. She didn't know when the concept had first stuck with her, but she knew that it had been even before she had been adopted by Oliver, and before her biological parents died.

It was a bit hypocritical once she thought about it. The girl that hated to lie was currently lying to her friends about whether or not there was a mole, a traitor, within their ranks.

Well, it wasn't like she was _intentionally_ lying to Robin and the others, they had just never conceived the notion that there _might_ be a mole among them, and Silverbird had never told them.

She had wanted to, oh how she'd wanted to, but Kaldur had said it would be better, if there really was a mole, to not tip he or she off by alerting the others. Reese called bullshit on that.

As such, it wasn't exactly looking like hiding the mole intel from the rest of the team was entirely viable anymore. Red Tornado, their friend, their "den mother", so to speak, had seemed to be the mole.

Reese's lower legs had also been burned, badly, by who she could only describe as Tornado's sister, another "Red Android", only this one could control fire.

Her wounds had been treated and bandaged, but the second-degree burns that crisscrossed Reese's calves and ankles would still take a good two to three weeks to fully heal, and it was unlikely Oliver would let her do anything even remotely hero-like during that time.

"Hey," Silverbird blinked her eyes open to find Robin, who was sitting next to her, staring down at her worriedly. "You okay? Your burns aren't hurting again, are they?"

Of course, her burns hurt. How would you feel if, while you were climbing through vents, a robot suddenly shot a stream of red-orange flame right at you, and you were able to _feel_ it burning through your skin?

"Yeah," she whispered softly, and Dick's eyes narrowed. "But, I'll be okay," Two weeks of bed rest if Ollie had anything to say about it, but yeah, she'd be okay. Robin still looked skeptical, but Reese only reached over, placing her hand over his. "I'm fine, Boy Wonder," she told him. "Really,"

At that moment, almost as if he had planned it, Green Arrow walked up, setting a bowl of pretzels in between the two birds and making them separate. Wally, who was sitting across from them, and to Silverbird's shock, just pushed the bowl away from him, rather than eating it all at once.

"Thanks," KF began. "But no thanks,"

"Yeah," Robin agreed. "What we want are _answers_. About Red Tornado and his siblings,"

"Exactly," Wally retorted, but when Oliver went to take the bowl of pretzels away, the redhead latched his hand onto it. "Leave the bowl," As he began to munch on the salty snacks, Reese rolled her eyes. That boy was like a human garbage disposal.

Then, Reese turned her head to the side, where she was able to see Aqualad talking to Batman, and she sighed. She had wanted to tell Bruce about the mole with Kaldur, but Aqualad had said that he wanted to bear this burden alone, saying that Reese needn't feel worse than she already did by lying to her friends.

But, even though she wasn't briefing Batman with Aqualad, it didn't mean that she wasn't able to listen in on them.

"During the Taipei mission with Red Arrow--" Kaldur was saying, which Reese found odd. He didn't even mention her being in Taiwan with him and Roy. "Sportsmaster revealed the possibility of a mole within the Team. In light of last night's attack, Tornado would appear to be the traitor. Though whether he betrayed us willingly, or was preprogrammed to is still--"

"You _knew_?" Conner's sudden rage-filled shout made Reese whip around in her spot in time to see Superboy slam Aqualad into the cave's wall, holding tightly onto the front of Kaldur's uniform. "That _android_ and his maniac family nearly killed Reese and M'gann!"

"Conner!" M'gann cried as she flew towards him. "What are you doing?"

"Kaldur knew we had a traitor among us and said _nothing_!" his shout alerted Robin, Kid Flash, and Artemis, and the others stood up from their spots, understandably shocked.

"You knew?" Robin asked.

"And you didn't tell us?" KF added while Silverbird sent a worried glance towards Kaldur. She _knew_ this was going to blow up in their faces when everybody else found out about it. She _knew._

Kaldur, to his credit, took the confrontations in stride, not looking away from Conner for a minute as he spoke again. "I sought to protect the team from--" he began to speak, but this time, Artemis was the one who interrupted the Atlantean.

"From what?" she asked. "Knowledge that might've saved our lives?"

"You two almost died!" Conner exclaimed again, turning to look at Reese and M'gann, the former of whom looked remarkably like a deer trapped in a pair of headlights.

Before she was able to say anything though, Batman cut in. "Enough," Bruce said firmly, narrowing his eyes at Conner and prompting the genomorph to let go of Aqualad's uniform.

As the Team walked towards the spot where Batman, Green Arrow, and Black Canary were standing, Silverbird wrapped her arms around herself, hating that _this_ was the result of her and Kaldur's deception.

"With Red Tornado... _missing_ ," Batman began. "The Team will now be overseen by rotating supervisors. Captain Marvel has volunteered to take the first shift," Captain Marvel, who was dressed in some sort of red super-suit with a white cape, and a large lightning decal across his chest, walked forward next, looking remarkably giddy.

"I'm really looking forward to hanging with you guys," the man said, and Reese tilted her head to the side as if she were an inquisitive cat who just found a red laser dot moving around on the floor. She had never interacted with Captain Marvel before, not really, but she obviously _knew_ about him, from what Robin had told her and her own investigating.

He seemed alright, all things considering. But, it seemed the rest of the team didn't share Reese's sentiments, considering they all looked around at each other before Conner once again turned towards Kaldur.

"Once I dismantle Red Tornado," Superboy began. "You and I are gonna--"

"Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League," Batman interrupted Conner's rant, walking forward and cutting off Superboy's confrontation with Aqualad. "That makes him a League responsibility. You _will_ leave him to us,"

As much as Silverbird respected the Dark Knight, and trust me, she did, even though Bruce could use a few lessons in the ' _having emotions_ ' category, that didn't mean that sometimes, or most of the time if Reese was being completely honest, she didn't think that Batman was right in benching them from looking for Red Tornado.

Not that she'd ever say that to his face, of course.

"I have another assignment for this team," Batman continued, waving a hand and causing a holo-screen to appear behind Green Arrow and Black Canary. On it, there was a news article from the _Gotham Truth Rag_ , and it showcased a battered and bruised Hamilton Hill, the mayor of Gotham.

" ' _Gotham Mayor attacked by Guerrilla Gorilla'_?" Wally asked, reading the headline of the article. 

"If he hadn't been poaching," Reese muttered under her breath. "We'd be doing something better with our time," Like finding Red Tornado, for starters. But, Reese didn't say that.

' _Was this the only thing he could find to distract us_?' Conner asked over the mental link, and despite the fact that this whole situation was _kinda_ her fault, Reese had to agree with him.

"Batman, please," Robin said out loud. "Tell me you're not sending us on this _joke_ of a wild ape chase,"

"I _never_ joke about the mission," Batman responded, and Reese grimaced from where she had been standing beside Artemis. Pissing off the Batman... _bad idea_ , Dick. Robin, it seemed, thought the same thing, because he backed down, and after a moment, Batman continued his briefing.

"I've checked the sources," Bruce added. "I've studied the pattern. Mayor Hill's encounter is only the latest in a series of incidents. Aqualad, you and your team will depart for India and check this out,"

Kaldur gave a single nod, but as the others began to walk towards the Bioship, Wally shoulder-checked the Atlantean, scowling at him.

"Hmph," the redhead scoffed. " _Your_ team," Reese went to follow her friends but was stopped by both Green Arrow _and_ Batman standing in front of her, blocking the twelve-year-old's way.

"Silverbird," Bruce began. "Because of your injuries, it would be best if you stay behind, and let the rest of the team handle this mission,"

"What?" Reese asked, genuinely shocked. Batman was _benching_ her? "Why? I can still walk,"

"It doesn't matter whether or not you can _still_ walk, baby bird," Dinah cut in, walking around. "What matters is that you were severely injured, and can _barely_ walk. Going on a mission where a gorilla could potentially harm, or even _kill_ , all of you is far too dangerous to be taken lightly,"

"I know that," Silverbird grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. "Doesn't mean I can't still take care of myself,"

Past Bruce, Dinah, and Ollie, Reese saw Dick standing behind them, and the Boy Wonder gave the brunette a look that plainly said ' _what's going on?'_. In response, Reese only shook her head at him, before Batman, Black Canary, and Green Arrow exchanged a series of looks.

Surprisingly, Bruce was the one who caved in first.

"Fine," Batman said firmly, and Reese found herself grinning. "But, unless it is an emergency, you _will_ stay on the Bioship, and run everything through Captain Marvel,"

"Deal," Silverbird stuck her hand out to shake on it before she remembered that it was Batman, and he didn't exactly _do_ that.

Her hand dropped back down to her side just as quickly, but if Reese was being honest with herself, she could _almost_ see a smile on the Dark Knight's face. Almost. Bruce and Oliver stepped aside, but as Reese went to walk between them, Ollie reached out and set a hand on his adoptive daughter's shoulder, stopping her again.

From where he was standing near the entrance to the hangar, Silverbird saw Robin looking a bit peeved, and Reese knew that Dick was getting impatient at what was taking her so long. Frankly, so was she. As such, Silverbird sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before she opened them again and turned around to face the Emerald Archer.

"Be careful," Green Arrow said softly. "Alright?" Suddenly, Reese felt immensely guilty, for more than one reason. What was she doing? Going off to India so soon after she'd almost died?

But, Silverbird also had to make sure that no one killed Aqualad while on the mission. She didn't _think_ they would, but she also couldn't be too sure. Superboy had been pretty mad earlier.

"Always," she answered Oliver, before walking over and joining Robin at the entrance to the hangar.

"What was that about?" Dick whispered, and Reese sighed.

"He didn't want me coming with," she answered simply. "Because of my burns, I mean. But, I promised to stay on the Bioship and run everything through Captain Marvel, so here I am,"

"He's coming with?" Robin echoed as the two of them, plus Wally, reached the Bioship, just as Captain Marvel landed outside the door.

Reese shrugged, but Captain Marvel gave a smile. "Sure," the man exclaimed. "We'll have a blast,"

As the other hero flew into the martian ship, Silverbird tilted her head to the side. She didn't know what it was, but there was something... _off_ about Captain Marvel. Maybe it was just his overexuberance.

"Translation," Dick began once Marvel had entered the Bioship, glancing over his shoulder at Reese and Wally. "He blames _us_ for Red Fiasco. He doesn't trust us," Aqualad, who had just walked up behind the trio, was suddenly met with twin glares from Robin and Kid Flash.

"It's a big club," Wally scoffed, before he and Dick entered the Bioship themselves, leaving Reese standing with Kaldur outside. The brunette sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. After a moment, a thought ran through Reese's head, and she glanced at Aqualad.

"Earlier," she began. "When you were telling Batman about the mole, why didn't you say I was with you and Red Arrow? I _was_ there, and I know about the mole,"

Kaldur stared at her for a moment before he sighed. "You were right to believe that this would end badly if we were not to tell the team beforehand. I realized as much before I told Batman, and decided that I should be the one to bear this burden. You did not deserve the backlash of an act that I should've seen coming,"

"Kaldur," Reese began, in shock. "While I... _admire_ that, we're in this together. I deserve just as much ridicule for not telling the team about the mole as you do. I wanted to tell them, I _should_ have told them, but I didn't. We're both in the wrong here,"

Aqualad still looked apprehensive, but he eventually sighed, giving a small nod of agreement, before the two of them walked up the ramp to enter the Bioship.

As she sat down in her usual spot in front of Dick, Silverbird noticed Robin's face, looking a bit pissed off. Reese figured that could've been because of how mad he was about Kaldur, but she also had a feeling it might be something else.

She wasn't entirely sure on that aspect though and opted to instead just sit down, ignoring the way that Robin's eyes suddenly, and metaphorically, started to burn holes through the side of Kaldur's head.

**N O R T H E R N I N D I A  
September 23, 21:36 IST**

Aside from the fact that it took a good fourteen hours to get from Happy Harbor to the northern jungles of the Indian subcontinent, and despite the Bioship's atmosphere being a bit frosty, things were going... _okay_.

But, Reese knew that she wasn't really one to talk since she _was_ part of the reason that the Team's interactions over the past several hours had been awkward and deathly silent.

As the Bioship hovered over the jungle floor, Artemis and Robin used their rappelling lines to land on the ground, doing a quick perimeter search to make sure no one was watching them.

"All clear," Robin spoke as Silverbird, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Superboy, and Captain Marvel walked out of the Bioship once M'gann had landed it. Sure, Reese was supposed to stay on the Bioship, per Batman's orders, but what Bruce didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?

"Switch to stealth," Kaldur began, tapping his belt buckle and turning his suit black and gray. "And we'll review mission parameters," Because her suit was already made to _be_ stealthy, Reese stood still, as Wally, once again, began a rant about something or another.

"Parameters?" KF echoed, though he as well tapped the lightning bolt symbol on his chest, prompting the stealth tech in his own suit to activate. "We don't need no stinkin' parameters,"

"It's recon," Robin added, scowling at Aqualad. "We know what to do," Then, before she was able to stop him, Dick had grabbed onto Reese's hand, beginning to drag her after him and Wally as Kaldur stepped forward again.

Frankly, this whole ordeal was beginning to give Reese a headache.

"Kid, Robin," the Atlantean began, only for Dick and Wally to round on him, anger radiating off the two of them in waves.

"Aqualad," Dick began. "The four of us started this team because the Justice League was keeping secrets from _us,_ "

"Or did you forget that?" Wally asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Like you forgot to tell us about the mole?"

"Okay, _enough_!" Silverbird shouted, the sheer volume of her voice causing birds to squawk and fly out of nearby trees, while Robin and Kid Flash, the entire team for that matter, plus Captain Marvel, stared at her in shock.

"Pretty bird, what are you doing?" Dick asked, looking a bit shocked, as Reese practically yanked her hand out of his and backed up a bit, standing closer to Aqualad.

"Kaldur's right," the brunette archer said quietly, and Robin's face completely drained of color. "Yes, he made a mistake not telling you about the mole, but so did I,"

"Silverbird--" Aqualad went to say something, presumably to try and stop the brunette from digging herself into her own hole, but Robin cut him off before Kaldur was able to finish.

"So did--You _knew_?" Dick practically _exploded_ , and for a moment, even Wally was surprised. Not even Kid Flash had seen Robin this angry before.

"Of course, I knew, Robin!" Silverbird exclaimed. "I was _there_. I was in Taipei with Aqualad and Red Arrow,"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Robin asked, and Reese threw a hand out to the side, gesturing to the general surroundings around them.

"Because I knew something like _this_ might happen!" she yelled back, struggling to keep her voice under control. "I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to put you in danger,"

"Danger?" Robin echoed, scoffing as he crossed his arms. "Yeah right. Who's the one who almost died yesterday because she thought it wouldn't be a good idea to tell her friends, to tell _me_ what was going on?"

"Robin," Kaldur cut in again, this time walking forward until he stood between the Boy Wonder and Silver Archer. "You cannot blame Silverbird for this. She has said she wanted to tell you. _I_ was the one who convinced her not to,"

"And _you_ \--" Next, Dick rounded on Aqualad, pointing his index finger in the Atlantean's face. "Who are you to tell her what to do? You're supposed to be our leader, our _friend_ \--"

"Exactly," Reese interrupted, causing both Robin and Kaldur to glance over at her. "Aqualad _is_ our leader. Which is why you have to trust him. Trust that he-- _we_ did this for a reason,"

But, Dick only gave her a look that Reese could only interpret as _betrayed._

"I don't even trust _you_ right now," he hissed, and that, Reese admitted, was what made her stop.

Sure, she had known this was going to end badly, and she had told Kaldur multiple times over the past couple of weeks that they should tell the rest of the team, but up until now, aside from the obvious, Reese hadn't _really_ thought of the consequences.

His tirade over, Robin stalked off into the jungle, Kid Flash hot on his heels, leaving a stricken Silverbird behind with Aqualad, Captain Marvel, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis.

"Come on," Conner snapped, grabbing onto M'gann's arm. "I'll protect you," But, M'gann ripped her arm from his grasp, and from what Reese was able to tell, the two of them had a mini psychic conversation, before Superboy spoke again. "I--I just wanna protect you,"

"Like Aqualad and Silverbird protected us?" Artemis asked, walking forward until she stood between Superboy and Miss M. "I'm not sure your _protection_ or your _patronizing_ is good for our health," As Artemis and M'gann walked a different path from the one Robin and Kid Flash had just taken, Superboy then turned his anger towards Kaldur.

"Why didn't you stop them?" Conner asked. "You're supposed to be in charge!"

"I am--" Aqualad went to apologize, but Superboy just held up a hand, stopping Kaldur's words before the genomorph super-jumped away.

Then, Kaldur, Reese, and Captain Marvel really _were_ left alone. Silverbird plopped herself down on an empty fallen tree trunk and put her head in her hands. She knew this was going to end badly. And now, because of something _she_ did, or rather, _hadn't_ done, Reese had potentially just ruined one of the most important relationships in her life.

Dick was going to hate her, he already _did_ hate her. God, she was such a screw-up. What Gods had she pissed off so much that _this_ was what her life was like now?

As the brunette was having a mini-mental breakdown, Captain Marvel turned towards Aqualad, looking a bit confused.

"Uh, did I _miss_ the part where you actually _said_ what the plan was?" At Marvel's words, Kaldur realized that no, he had not, at any point after the Bioship had landed in India, actually _told_ the rest of the team what their plan was. _Great_.

As she began to follow Aqualad and Captain Marvel through the jungle, Silverbird suddenly heard what sounded like a growl coming from the bushes that were behind the tree trunk she had been sitting on a few seconds before.

But, when Reese spun around to peer through the bushes, she wasn't able to see anything out of the ordinary, so she figured it was probably just some animal. As such, the fight that she and Robin had just gotten into was still plaguing Silverbird's mind, so when Aqualad finally stopped in a clearing, she almost ran into him.

Captain Marvel crouched down close to the ground and ran his fingers over a group of hurried animal prints, that looked reminiscent of a human's, but also... _weren't_. _Gorilla_.

"Guess this is where Mayor Hill's... _monkey business_ went down," the other hero spoke, before straightening up again. " _So_ , at least we can prove his story, right?" But, Kaldur didn't seem to hear Captain Marvel's question, because the Atlantean only walked forward, oblivious.

"Kaldur?" Silverbird spoke up, and her older friend sighed heavily before he turned around.

"My apologies, friends," he answered. "But, I am... _plagued_ by doubts. Silverbird, you were right when saying we should not have withheld--"

Suddenly, there was a loud booming sound, and the entire ground shook for a moment. Reese couldn't help but compare it to the few earthquakes she had experienced in her lifetime, only this was smaller, less strong.

The trees around the three began to rustle and shake as Silverbird slowly drew her bow, knocking an arrow and holding it at the ready.

Reese didn't know what she had been expecting, but it definitely wasn't to see a massive and obviously mutated elephant erupt from the treeline, thundering towards her, Aqualad, and Captain Marvel with only one single goal in mind.

Squishing them.

Quickly, before they _were_ able to get squished, Captain Marvel flew into the air and slammed into the elephant, bringing with it a shockwave that blew everything back a bit. But, the elephant only used its trunk to pluck Captain Marvel off its forehead and throw him through the trees, cracking tree trunks as he went.

Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, _another_ elephant appeared on the other side of the clearing, effectively cornering Silverbird and Aqualad on either side. As the elephants began to thunder towards them, Reese and Kaldur split, with Silverbird going left, and Aqualad going right.

But, Reese suddenly felt one of the elephant's trunks slam into her back, throwing her through the bushes and making her land heavily in the same clearing where Captain Marvel had ended up, and Kaldur followed not soon after.

So much for not getting injured again. Silverbird was pretty sure some, if not most, of her ribs were at least cracked.

"Ow," she muttered, rolling over onto her stomach before bracing herself onto her hands and knees. Meanwhile, Captain Marvel flew into the throat of one of the elephants, throwing the creature back, just as the other one swiped him away again.

But, as the elephant's head was tilted up in the air, Silverbird noticed something rather familiar locked around the animal's neck. An inhibitor collar, like the ones that Amanda Waller and Hugo Strange used at Belle Reve.

These animals weren't rampaging on _purpose_ , or of their own free will. They were being _controlled_. And, judging from the way these elephants were mutated, it was likely they were on Kobra Venom as well.

Exchanging a glance with Aqualad, who gave her a single nod, Silverbird shot an arrow towards one of the elephant's inhibitor collar, while Kaldur used his water-bearers as a way to distract the beast.

Once Reese had a good enough grip on the arrow's line, and her boots were digging into the soft jungle dirt, Silverbird turned towards Aqualad.

"Now, Kaldur!" she shouted, and the Atlantean jumped up, yanking the collar off with his water-bearers and making the giant contraption crash to the ground just shy of where Reese was standing, prompting the younger girl to squeak and duck down to avoid any flying debris.

But, as soon as the inhibitor collar was off of its neck, the elephant's eyes seemed to clear, and the creature turned around peacefully and made its way back into the jungle, leaving Aqualad and Silverbird alone, which Reese was _immensely_ grateful for.

"Remove the collars!" Kaldur shouted towards where Captain Marvel was going up against the other Kobra Venom-enhanced pachyderm, and the Justice Leaguer gave a thumbs-up in response before punching the collar itself, making it fall to the ground, where the elephant crushed it beneath its own foot.

As the two elephants walked back into the jungle, Captain Marvel joined Aqualad and Silverbird where the two were standing on a small cliff.

"Pretty _sweet_ ," Marvel began. "How you figured out the problem was the collar,"

"But the collars indicate intelligence behind this attack," Kaldur explained, glancing over towards Captain Marvel. "The rest of the team may also be at risk," Then, Aqualad tapped his commlink. "Team, report status," But, all he got was static, and a high-pitched screech that prompted Reese to toss her own commlink out, because _ow_ that hurt.

"Talk about a jammed communication," Silverbird muttered, holding her commlink in her hand and rubbing her ear as Aqualad sighed.

"Miss Martian also failed to establish a telepathic link before we split up," Kaldur added, but Captain Marvel shook his head.

"Actually," the other hero clarified. " _You_ let everyone split up before communications were set,"

"He's got a point, Aqualad," Reese said quietly, but Kaldur only began to quietly seethe.

"They would not listen!" he exclaimed, throwing an arm out to the side.

"I guess," Captain Marvel said simply. "But, back in the cave, Batman stopped everyone from arguing with _one_ word,"

"Because _Batman_ \--" Kaldur shot back. "--is _Batman_ ,"

"Hey," Captain Marvel added quietly. "You don't have to tell me. When I first joined the League, all he did was boss me around, and it's hard not to take it personally. But," Marvel continued. "I never disobeyed an order, and that's probably what kept me alive,"

"Batman _takes_ command," Aqualad thought out loud. "He has to, for the good of the League," Kaldur then turned to Captain Marvel. "Thank you for helping me understand,"

"Hey, Wisdom of Solomon," Captain Marvel tapped one finger against the side of his head. There were a few moments of silence, before Kaldur turned away, holding one side of his head.

"Yes, Miss Martian," he said, and Reese assumed M'gann and contacted Aqualad through a telepathic link. "Report,"

As Kaldur mentally conversed with the Team's resident telepath, Silverbird noticed that Captain Marvel wasn't exactly paying attention either.

"Cool!" the other hero suddenly exclaimed, gaining the attention of Aqualad as well. "A tiger! I'll be right back!" Captain Marvel shouted over his shoulder and was gone before Reese or Kaldur could stop him.

"Marvel, wait!" Silverbird cried, but it was too late, and Reese let out a groan of frustration. Some hero Captain Marvel was, flaking out just like a kid who saw something shiny in a sandbox.

"Hey," Kaldur muttered. "Speed of Mercury," Despite it all, and the fact that she and Robin still weren't talking to each other, Reese found herself laughing at the fact that _yes_ , Aqualad _did_ know sarcasm.

"Don't worry," Silverbird wheezed out from in between her giggles. "I'll get him," Then, Reese ran through the bushes in the same direction that Captain Marvel had flown off.

Surprisingly, he and the tiger he was chasing actually weren't that far away, but when Silverbird finally caught up with him, she found Captain Marvel and the tiger facing off against one another in some sort of weird stand-off.

The tiger was growling, but Captain Marvel did his best to try and calm the big cat down.

"Hey there, mister," Marvel crooned, holding a hand out as he still hovered above the ground. "Wouldn't you like good ol' Cap to take that nasty collar off you, huh?"

Carefully, Silverbird moved forward with Captain Marvel, closer towards the tiger, while also maintaining a safe enough distance. Finally, Captain Marvel landed on the ground, just as Reese was able to see sparks arc off the sides of the tiger's inhibitor collar, causing it to growl in pain again.

Then, with a mechanical sounding hiss, four identical pylons appeared in a square around Silverbird and Captain Marvel. Some sort of gravitational magnetic field appeared between the four small towers, and Reese and Marvel were both dragged to the ground. No matter how hard she tried, Silverbird wasn't able to pull herself to even a crouching position, because of the strange forcefield.

But, that wasn't the strangest part. Behind the tiger, just past the treeline, Reese saw a gorilla, _easily_ seven feet tall, with a red beret on top of his head and--was that a minigun?

The gorilla pounded on his chest with two fists, roaring in such a way that it made Silverbird's head pound.

Then, everything went black.

➳➳➳

Around the time that Reese, Kaldur, and Captain Marvel had been going up against the Kobra Venom-enhanced elephants, Robin was mentally kicking himself as he moved through the jungle with KId Flash.

He _knew_ that Reese had been acting off for the last couple of weeks, but he just thought it was something to do with Oliver or Roy. It hadn't even crossed Dick's mind that there might be a mole within the team, that Reese might know about it, and that she hadn't told him about it, because why would it?

They told each other everything, except for you know, the little tidbit about him being in love with her, but what Dick wasn't able to wrap his head around was the fact that _Kaldur_ knew about the mole before he did.

_Kaldur_ of all people, knew before he did. Yeah, Aqualad was their leader, and he sorta deserved to know what went on within the team behind the scenes, but _seriously_? As far as Robin knew, aside from the Taipei mission, and the missions the team went on as a whole, Silverbird hadn't interacted with the Atlantean all that much.

Even when the team _was_ on missions together, Reese was most often partnered with _him_ rather than with Kaldur. So, what had happened to make the two of them so close that Reese told Kaldur about the mole before she told Dick?

Like a toddler throwing a tantrum when he didn't get his way, Robin kicked at a stone that was laying in some leaves, and the rock flew up in the air, eventually knocking into the back of Wally's head, who was walking in front of him.

"Ow!" the redhead exclaimed, rubbing the nape of his neck as he spun around to glare at the Boy Wonder. "Dude! What was that for?"

"Sorry," Dick muttered.

"You're not just mad about Aqualad," Kid Flash began, quirking an eyebrow. "Are you?"

"No," Robin huffed angrily, crossing his arms, finally stopping at the edge of a cliff face. "I'm not," When Wally didn't move, Dick began to explain, waving his arms around as if they were the rotors of a helicopter. "I just don't understand why she'd tell _Kaldur_ of all people before telling me. I mean, are they so close now that she just tells him every little thing that happens in her life? And--"

"Woah," Wally interrupted the Boy Wonder's rant by clamping both hands down on Robin's shoulders, and making Dick freeze from where he had begun to pace. "Okay, first of all, you need to _calm down_. Look," KF continued, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm as mad about the mole thing about you are, but come on, you and Reese are _solid_. I doubt _Aqualad_ would be able to change that,"

Before Robin was able to say anything in response to that, there was the sound of flapping wings, and avian squawking, before a whole flock of evil-looking vultures descended on Robin and Kid Flash, prompting the boys to run for it.

"I thought vultures only ate _dead_ meat?" Dick exclaimed, throwing a birdarang towards the birds. While Wally _easily_ could've gotten away from the vultures that were currently chasing him, he instead chose to run at the speed of a normal human, just so he and Dick would be able to keep an eye on each other.

"Yeah!" KF called over his shoulder in response to Robin's question. "These are some very _pro-active_ scavengers!" Pro-active in the sense that the vultures weren't even being scavengers right now, but regular birds of prey.

"Pro-active and supersized!" Robin added, ducking down to avoid the reach of one of the vultures' talons. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Kobra Venom?" Wally asked, before nodding. "Yeah,"

Then, the vultures dive-bombed the ground, prompting the two friends to separate from each other. Dick scurried across fallen tree trunks, dodging left and right the sharp and jagged beak that was connected to the vulture chasing him.

Using the acrobatic skills he had grown up honing, using, and developing, Dick practically flew through the viny tree branches and ended up even tangling the vulture between them.

Finally, once all the enhanced birds were down for the count, Robin and Kid Flash returned to their spot at the cliff, when suddenly, Dick felt something make a sort of ' _ding_ - _ing_ ' noise in his utility belt, and the Boy Wonder reached beneath his costume, pulling out the golden arrowhead that Reese had given him from where it had been hanging around his neck.

For some reason, the small object, which was about two inches long and could fit in the palm of Dick's hand, was glowing a subtle gold and giving off the same ' _ding_ ' sound from earlier at regular intervals.

"I hate magic," Wally muttered, but Robin ignored him.

The arrowhead had never done this before, so what did it mean? For some reason, Dick felt a feeling of dread pooling in the pit of his stomach, but before he could say anything about it, Robin heard M'gann's voice inside his head.

' _Link established,_ '

' _Should he really still be giving us orders_?' Artemis asked, sounding a bit condescending, and Dick in no way blamed her. ' _And should you really be following them_?'

' _Listen_ ,' Kaldur began, sounding, for lack of a better word, freaked out, which should have sent off alarm bells inside Dick's head right away, but the Boy Wonder was too pissed off at the Atlantean right now to care. ' _Please_ ,'

' _Oh, good_ ,' Wally muttered sarcastically, as Robin continued to study the arrowhead in his hand. ' _Aqualad's voice in my head. I've so missed that,_'

There weren't any new notes in the arrowhead, Dick had already checked, so it wasn't like this was some sort of ringtone, but the artifact was still glowing, and the ' _ding_ ' was getting louder.

"Would you make that thing stop?" Wally asked out loud, and Dick sent his friend a glare.

"Don't you think I'd do that if I _knew_ why it was making noise?" the Boy Wonder retorted, before speaking to the psychic link.

' _Hey, Kaldur_ ,' he began. ' _KF and I were attacked by giant vultures. Of course, since we're moles you and Reese probably think we attacked ourselves,_' Okay, Dick had to admit, that was a low blow, but up until this point, Reese hadn't said anything. And, in a way, he was surprised she still didn't.

' _If they did,_ ' Artemis added instead. ' _They wouldn't tell you_ ,'

' _Superboy,_ ' M'gann continued. ' _Are you online or just pouting_?'

' _Busy,_ ' Conner answered simply. ' _Call back later_ ,'

' _What gets me is how nonchalant he and Reese are about not telling us,_ ' Wally continued, and as much as Dick was mad at Kaldur, he was worried about Reese more.

Something was wrong.

Sure, when she got overly emotional Reese sorta curled up in on herself like an armadillo, building up walls to protect herself from the world outside. But, that didn't mean she never contributed to a conversation. She was still _there._ She was just...quieter.

This time though, amidst the sounds of the other's arguing with each other over the mental link, Robin couldn't hear Silverbird's voice _at all._

_'Hey, Rob,'_ Kid Flash interrupted Dick's thoughts. ' _You still with us?'_

_'What?'_ Dick asked, before realizing what Wally had asked. ' _Oh yeah. Chalant, he should be chalant,_ '

' _Did he and Reese really think you or I could be the mole?'_ Wally asked though Robin didn't look up from his arrowhead. ' _I mean, the four of us have known each other for years,_'

' _Something's wrong_ ,' Dick suddenly realized, cutting off Wally's rant and quieting everyone else's various arguments.

That is until Wally narrowed his eyes again. ' _Well duh,_ ' the speedster answered. ' _Our oh-so-strong leader and your pretty bird didn't trust us with the information that one of us is most likely a mole, and--_'

' _Enough, Wally!'_ Robin exclaimed suddenly. ' _Aqualad, where's Reese?'_ As mad as he was with Kaldur, Dick was getting fed up with Wally's whining more, so he cut him off, causing the speedster to stare at him in shock.

Over the mental link, the Atlantean sighed. ' _It would seem,_ ' Kaldur began. ' _That Silverbird and Captain Marvel have been captured. And we must act as a team to rescue them,'_

_'Under your leadership? _KF scoffed. ' _I don't think so--'_ The next thing Wally knew, Robin had grabbed the front of his uniform and the front half of the speedster's body was hanging over the edge of the cliff.

"What'd she ever do to you?" Dick scowled, mask lenses narrowed. "Reese made a mistake, so what? We're not just going to leave her behind,"

"Dude!" Kid Flash cried out again. "Are you planning on murdering me?"

"Right now?" Robin asked as his eyes narrowed even. "I'm thinking about it," Wally's face paled, but frankly, the speedster didn't need to worry about anything.

Dick was lying. He wasn't _actually_ going to kill Wally, he didn't think he'd be able to anyway, but the redhead, despite being one of his best friends, got on the Boy Wonder's nerves more often than not.

' _Kaldur's our leader_ ,' Robin said over the mental link again, yanking Kid Flash backward so he was on solid ground. ' _After the mission is over, if he wishes to step down, then he can. But right now, he is the one in charge. And all of you could do well to remember that,_'

➳➳➳

The first thing that Reese noticed when her eyes blinked open was that she was tied down, or rather, her hands and feet were locked in metal bands like the ones that she had been locked in at Project: Cadmus. An inhibitor collar was around her neck, and Reese figured that was why nothing was covering her mouth since the collar's main purpose was to inhibit superpowers.

She was, from what she could tell, lying on a metal table parallel to the ground and was inside some kind of building, surrounded by a whole bunch of medical equipment. Somewhere within the room, she was able to hear growling, and Reese figured it was from the same gorilla that had grabbed her and Captain Marvel earlier, or from the tiger that had gotten the two of them into this mess.

Glancing around, Silverbird saw that the other hero was in much the same predicament as she was, only he had a thinner metal band crossing his forehead, along with several monitors hooked up to him as well.

Then, Reese heard a voice, which also possessed a thick French accent.

"Le brain enhancements on this... _tigre_ already pays dividends, no? For he has brought us two prizes _most_ glorious,"

As many villains as she had faced off against in her three years as Silverbird, Reese could only think of one who had an accent such as this. That also explained the "intelligence", Aqualad had said earlier, about the one who had been smart enough to use the Kobra Venom on the jungle animals.

_The Brain_.

"Capitaine Merveille et le petit canari," For a moment, Reese's eyes glowed silver, but not because she didn't already know French, because she did, but her eyes always did that when hearing a foreign language, and her brain instantly translated the words into _Captain Marvel and the little canary._

"Why can't we move?" Captain Marvel asked, noticing that Silverbird was in the same predicament he was...sort of.

"It is obvious _mais non?_ " the Brain continued. "Your collars are set to prohibit _le mouvement_ from the neck down. I have allowed the two of you to retain the power of speech as your reactions may be instructive to _le procedure,_ "

"The procedure?" Silverbird echoed, speaking up for the first time since she had regained consciousness. "What procedure?"

"I have often wondered," the Brain began to explain. "The effect of le Capitaine's powers on the cerebral cortex. I long to see the _Wisdom of Solomon_ up close,"

"Wait," Captain Marvel cut in suddenly. "If you're only worried about my powers, why is Silverbird here?" Though she still wasn't able to actually _see_ The Brain, Reese knew he was there, and her throat ran dry as the villain spoke his next words.

" _Dommage collatéral_ ," the Brain said simply. _Collateral damage._ "Monsieur Mallah, prepare for surgery,"

Mallah, the gorilla with the beret, stepped out of the shadows, now oddly dressed in a surgeon's scrubs, with a surgical mask over his face. Even though she couldn't, Reese tried her best to move her hands or feet, to try something in order to get free, but it was no use.

Then, almost as if he received some sort of signal from the Brain, Mallah raised a hand from where he was standing at the end of the table and clamped his massive hand down around Silverbird's ankle, squeezing down on the burn on her ankle.

Reese, though she wasn't able to move any part of her body from the neck down, was still able to _feel_ things, and she could sure as hell feel that.

So, she screamed.

➳➳➳

The rest of the Team was running through the forest towards the compound when Robin fell. And, considering the Boy Wonder was an acrobat, that was saying something.

But, whatever his previous profession was before becoming Batman's protege, Dick still _did_ have a good sense of balance, so that was why everyone was surprised when he tumbled to the ground.

"They're hurting her," Robin whispered as Kid Flash skidded to a stop beside him. Dick didn't know what it was, he didn't know how he knew, but he just _did._

"She's screaming," Superboy added, and Robin sucked in a strangled breath before he struggled to his feet again and began to run towards the compound.

Or at least, he tried to, but Wally suddenly jumped on his back, making Dick fall to the ground again on his stomach and knocking the wind out of the Boy Wonder with a soft ' _oomph_ '.

"If you go in guns blazing _now,_ " Kid Flash hissed from where he was still sitting on Robin's back. "You're gonna get Reese _killed_ ,"

"Get off me," Dick huffed, shooting up to his feet so fast and swinging an arm out that Wally needed to lean backward, and ended up landing on _his_ back on the ground before Robin turned around to face him. "Well, what do _you_ think we should do, KF?"

Instead, M'gann, who was currently camouflaged, spoke up through the mental link.

' _I'll fly over_ ,' she began, but, as much as he wanted to rescue Reese (and Captain Marvel) as soon as possible, Dick had to admit that he had to play this smart, however much he hated it.

' _Negatory,_ ' Kid Flash answered, looking through his infrared goggles. ' _The field extends like a dome over the whole compound,_ '

' _Pylons are insulated,_ ' Robin added, after pulling up his holo-computer and looking at the statistics. ' _But, one good shock could cause a momentary gap,_ '

' _I see a target_ ,' Artemis spoke up.

' _Then be ready to hit it,_ ' Aqualad told her. ' _Be ready, all of you._ '

Then, Kaldur ran forward into the open, using his eel tattoos to divert the electricity from the compound's forcefield. As such, a small hole appeared in the forcefield, and as soon as Wally gave the signal, Artemis shot her arrow through, the projectile hitting the small button and therefore shutting down the forcefield as a whole.

Aqualad waved his hand, and the Team began to move in, but as Robin stood up from he had been concealed in the bushes, Dick noticed that, on top of the compound, a rhesus monkey with an inhibitor collar around its neck was sitting on an outcropping, watching them.

Before Robin was able to warn the others, the monkey let out a sharp and echoing cry, and even _more_ rhesus monkeys appeared from behind the first one, all wearing inhibitor collars, and all on a set course to attack the Team.

Inside the compound, Reese noticed the security feed of the Team fighting the monkeys, and as much as she wanted to smile, she was in too much pain to attempt it. Monsieur Mallah hadn't broken her ankle, though he very well could have but, what the gorilla _had_ done was aggravate her burns even more.

Per the Brain's orders, Mallah had unwrapped the bandages protecting Silverbird's left ankle and grabbed the exact spot where the worst of her burns were. Now, Reese's injuries were exposed to the elements and felt a lot similar to when she, Robin, and Artemis had almost drowned the day before.

Pins and needles, _everywhere_.

"Go, Mallah," the Brain told the belligerent ape, a robotic arm hovering a scalpel above Captain Marvel's forehead. "Deal with these intruders. I can handle _le Capitaine's_ brain extraction myself,"

With that, Mallah growled, ripping off the surgical mask he was still wearing and heading outside, where Aqualad ripped off one of the collars of a rhesus monkey, turning the creature back into its normal self.

"Remove their collars!" Kaldur shouted over his shoulder, and Robin grumbled from where he was going up against two monkeys.

"Sounds easy when _he_ says it," Dick muttered, still a bit peeved from earlier before both monkeys' collars were suddenly on the ground after Artemis had shot an arrow through them.

Then, returning the favor as he noticed two other rhesus monkeys land behind Artemis, Robin threw two birdarangs towards the blonde, hitting both collars and freeing the monkeys.

Just then, Mallah exited the compound itself but was ultimately overpowered by both Miss Martian and Kid Flash.

As soon as he saw the massive hole in the wall, Dick scrambled to his feet, sprinting across the clearing the compound sat in and skidding to a stop just inside the opening, only to see a pink and blobby brain in a robotic cylindrical body.

The Brain, he realized. Well, that made everything make a _lot_ more sense. Past the Brain, Robin saw what looked like some sort of pseudo-operating room, where he saw Captain Marvel and Silverbird strapped to metal tables, Reese's left ankle looking _very_ worsefor wear.

"It's the Brain!" Wally exclaimed, and Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Uh, I can _see_ it's a brain," the blonde retorted, but the speedster waved a hand around dismissively.

"Not _a_ brain," KF told her. " _The_ Brain,"

"In the flesh," the Brain spoke up, rolling forward as Mallah got to his feet. "Mallah,"

Then, the gorilla held up some sort of device in his massive ape-y fist, pressed a button, and four pylons, much like the ones used to capture Captain Marvel and Silverbird earlier, appeared in front of Robin and the other's, prompting the gravitational forcefield to appear and bring the five of them to the ground.

But, Kaldur had a plan.

' _Miss Martian, Superboy_ ,' Aqualad began. ' _Now_!'

Then, with her telekinesis, M'gann took the remote from Mallah before the gorilla even knew what was going on, and pressed a button, turning off the pylons.

Suddenly, the opposite wall exploded, revealing Superboy on the other side, along with a massive white wolf. In the ensuing chaos, Robin went with Aqualad to free Reese and Captain Marvel, with Kaldur ripping off the two's inhibitor collars as soon as he was close enough.

"I'm sorry," Reese whispered as Dick helped her off the table, one of Silverbird's arms slung over his shoulder, but Robin quickly shushed her.

"Hey, it's okay," he said softly. "Come on, let's just get you out of here," Then, careful not to let Reese's left foot touch the ground, the two, plus Captain Marvel, Aqualad, and a tiger, turned around, only to find themselves faced with Monsieur Mallah.

Mallah roared, but Superboy and the white wolf confronted him, Conner hitting his fist against his palm.

"Try it," Conner said, sneering. "I hate monkeys,"

Surprisingly, it was the Brain that kept Mallah from attacking Superboy and his new friend.

"No, Mallah," the supervillain said simply, seeming almost despondent. "This will not be our Waterloo," then, panels all over the Brain's robotic body opened up, revealing an elaborate system of some sort of weapon. "Au revoir, mes amis,"

"Get down!" Wally shouted, and everyone crouched down as...the lights went out. When they came back on, the Brain and Monsieur Mallah were gone, but no one was injured, or at least, in Reese's case, injured worse. "Wait," KF began. "That big weapon was...a light switch?"

"Whelming," Reese muttered, and despite it all, Dick found himself laughing.

"Yeah," he said softly, just glad that Reese was okay. "Whelming,"

➳➳➳

Eventually, everyone made their way back to the Bioship, and Reese sat herself down on the entrance ramp as Dick quickly went inside to grab some new gauze and afterburn cream.

As she waited for Robin to return, Silverbird glanced up towards the path the Team had just come down to see Wally and Artemis making their way towards the Bioship, and KF was looking remarkably giddy, something Artemis picked up on.

"What are _you_ grinning about?" she asked, and Wally held up Monsieur Mallah's beret, which he had swiped from the now-destroyed compound.

"One word," the speedster said simply, putting the beret on his head. " _Souvenir_ ,"

"Two words," Artemis retorted. " _Gorilla_ _lice_ ,"

Reese snickered as Wally quickly yanked the beret off his head, holding it away from himself as if it was contaminated with some sort of radioactive waste. At that moment, Dick returned, the gauze and cream in his hands, and he raised an eyebrow behind his mask, wondering why Reese was laughing so much.

"What's so funny?" the Boy Wonder asked, crouching down in front of the brunette and slowly removing her boot.

"Wally may have lice from an ape now," she answered, before narrowing her eyes thoughtfully as Robin quirked an eyebrow, looking fairly confused. "I could've wrapped my foot myself, you know?"

"I know," Robin said simply. "But...just let me do this, alright?" Reese gave a small nod before she sat back, and carefully, Dick began to wrap up her foot again, applying the afterburn cream as he did so.

Over Dick's shoulder, Reese saw Aqualad and Captain Marvel, and the two were removing the inhibitor collars off the rhesus monkeys that had attacked the Team earlier. After the last monkey was freed, Captain Marvel turned to his tiger friend.

"That's the last of the collars?" he asked, and the tiger growled in what Silverbird could only assume was agreement. "And I can count on you to keep the other animals out of trouble?" the tiger growled again, and Captain Marvel ran his hand over the big cat's head. "Good," the heroes said simply. "I'll be back for a visit. Promise," With one last roar of farewell, the tiger bounded away into the trees, and Captain Marvel waved after him. "I think I'll call him Mister Tawney," Captain Marvel said simply, and Reese tilted her head to the side as Dick finished bandaging her foot, helping the girl stand again. Captain Marvel was an odd little duck, that was for sure.

Aqualad went to walk up the ramp into the Bioship, and as he passed the two of them, Robin sighed.

"Look," the Boy Wonder began sharply. "I need to know. Why'd you two keep the mole intel a secret?"

As the rest of the Team, plus Captain Marvel, and the white wolf, whom Conner was apparently bringing home with him, gathered around, Kaldur and Reese exchanged a glance.

"Sportsmaster," Reese said after a few moments, and a gasp elicited from Artemis. "He was the one who told us,"

"You can't trust _him_!" Artemis cried out.

"We do not," Aqualad retorted coolly. "It seemed possible, even likely, that he was attempting to divide the Team with false information,"

"And given how this mission went--" Robin began. "He almost succeeded. But, you two had to consider that it might be true,"

"Yes," Kaldur answered simply. "As Leader, I did. In which case I did not wish to alert the traitor. And I implored Silverbird to do the same,"

"That's the real reason I didn't tell you," Reese whispered, and Dick sighed again.

"Hate to say it," he began, wincing when Reese elbowed his ribcage. "But, it makes sense,"

"I am still prepared to step down," Kaldur began, and Reese's head snapped up.

"Whoa, wait," she said, waving her free hand around. "Step down?" Reese whipped her head around to stare at Dick and the others. "What did you guys say to him?"

Then, Wally shot his hand up in the air. "Robin dangled me over a cliff!" he exclaimed, and this time, everyone snapped their heads to look at the Boy Wonder, who was glaring at the speedster so hard lasers were practically beaming out of his eyes.

" _Wally_!" Robin shouted, but KF only shrugged.

"What?" he asked, his face the perfect expression of innocence. "It happened, didn't it?" Silverbird had officially decided that today had broken her Weird-O-Meter, i.e. the amount of strangeness she could handle in twenty-four hours.

"Okay, now that _that's_ outof the way," Reese began again, before raising her own hand up in the air. "All in favor of keeping Aqualad as Leader?"

Everyone raised their hands, even Robin after Silverbird had elbowed him again. Then, Captain Marvel walked forward.

"Guess it's unanimous," he said simply, setting a hand on Kaldur's shoulder. The two exchanged a handshake before Captain Marvel began to walk away again, saluting them as he did so. "See you tomorrow,"

"You're not coming back with us?" Kaldur asked, and Captain Marvel shook his head.

"Nah," he answered simply. "Gotta fly," With that, he took off into the air. As the Team began to make their way into the Bioship, with Wally, M'gann, and Conner debating the wolf's new name, Reese turned to Dick.

"You dangled Wally over a cliff?" she asked, and Robin sighed.

"It wasn't _that_ bad," he claimed, his face flushing the same color as the front of his suit, and Reese snickered as she bumped against him. "And plus, I wasn't _dangling_ him. I was holding onto his emblem, it's fine,"

"I'm just messing with you, Boy Wonder," she retorted. "Sometimes you're as stiff as Batman,"

"Please don't ever say that again," Dick sighed, and this time, Reese only smiled. It'd take a while, she knew, but things were finally getting back to normal.


	19. 17. Gorilla Warfare

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
** **September 26, 10:00 EDT**

Three days after the team had returned from India, they were standing in the main cave as Batman briefed the seven of them on a new mission, and Reese was picking at the bandage on her left ankle.

Given the fact that it wouldn't be good for her leggings to be rubbing up against her burns, and therefore aggravating the injuries, even more, she had taken to wearing a Capri-like pair instead, which ended just below her knee, rather than her ankles. 

It felt odd since Reese wasn't exactly _used_ to wearing shorter pants. She was most comfortable in leggings or skinny jeans during cooler (read _all_ ) weather. Tights, maybe, if she was in the mood. Dresses for special occasions. But, considering her four primary choices were out of the question, Silverbird had to contend with using a modified version of pants.

One which she was _not_ pleased with. Reese supposed it was her own fault though, deciding to go with the Team on that mission to India right after Red Tornado's "siblings" had decided to try and barbecue her.

_C'est la vie._

"The Justice League has analyzed your reports on the Brain's operation in India," Batman was saying, once Reese finally tuned back into the conversation. "And we believe it's only the _tip_ of the iceberg," Waving his hand, Bruce made a holo-screen appear, upon which there was a profile on Bwunda, a country in Africa. "Common criteria in the Bwundan jungle--," Batman continued after a moment. "--suggests that the Brain has _another_ Kobra Venom operation up and running,"

"And you want us to shut it down," Kaldur said from where he was standing on Reese's left side, arms crossed.

"Exactly," Batman answered simply, and Captain Marvel, who was still acting as the Team's "den mother", so to speak, in Red Tornado's absence, suddenly grew a wide grin on his face.

"Sounds like a blast!" the older hero exclaimed, his giddy personality once again putting Reese slightly on edge. Seriously, she only thought _M'gann_ was that perky all the time. "Let's prep the Bioship and go!" But, it seemed like, this time the Captain would _not_ be joining them if the way Batman clamped a hand down on his shoulder was any indication.

"A word, Captain," the Dark Knight began as Silverbird and the others began the brief run down to the hangar where the Bioship was waiting. Reese supposed she could've eavesdropped, she could've listened in on whatever it was that Batman wanted to tell Captain Marvel, but she didn't.

A) because that would be rude, and B) because she wasn't all that interested either. Three days since India and she was running on _maybe_ seven hours of sleep total in the past seventy-two hours.

Not that anybody knew about that. Dick didn't even know. And frankly, from Reese's point-of-view, he didn't need to. She could handle herself just fine. And...she supposed everyone in their line of work got nightmares at one time or another.

**B W U N D A  
** **September 26, 20:11 CAT**

Silverbird hated the jungle. 

Nothing good ever happened there, if their last experience in the rainforest was any indication. Plus, she was a city girl at heart. Wide-open spaces or places far from civilization (like the _jungle_ ) always made her nervous.

And when Reese got nervous, she got jumpy. This was why, when M'gann's voice appeared in her head, signifying that the Martian had established the psychic link, Silverbird tripped, slipping on some dropped leaves, and landed on her stomach on the forest floor, bonking her head against a fallen tree branch in the process.

' _Ow,_ ' she muttered mentally, rubbing her head and ignoring the way Kid Flash had begun snickering as soon as her foot had come out from under her, instead opting to grab onto Robin's offered hand, allowing Dick to pull her to her feet.

' _Link established,_ ' M'gann said finally, giving Reese an apologetic look, to which the brunette just waved her free hand, signifying that she was okay.

' _Babe_ ,' Wally cut in, turning to Miss Martian again. ' _If you want to establish a link, I can help..._ '

Reese went to cut the speedster off because honestly, even if Wally _did_ know that M'gann and Conner were dating, which he didn't, this act had gotten old a _long_ time ago. She went to cut him off, but Artemis beat her to it.

' _Wally,_ ' the blonde began. ' _You know everyone can hear you, right?'_ But Wally, per usual, hardly seemed bothered.

' _S'okay, babe,'_ the redhead said again, making Reese roll her eyes and causing Dick to snicker. ' _Wally West never misses a chance to advance the cause of true love,'_

_'Because you know all about that?'_ Robin cut in, smirking and KF shot the Boy Wonder a glare.

' _And you do?'_ he retorted, but to that Dick only shrugged before turning around again, and the seven of them began to make their way through the thick jungle again.

But, Silverbird wanted to hit her head against a tree again when Artemis suddenly passed her and Robin, sidling up to Superboy who, along with Wolf, was walking up ahead and trying to see if they could spot anything, treacherous or otherwise.

' _So, Conner...'_ the other archer began. ' _How 'bout after the mission, we go to a movie or something_?'

Reese, who had been walking behind Dick, suddenly let her forehead fall until it hit the back of his shoulder as Wally whipped his head around so fast Reese was worried the speedster gave himself whiplash.

"Make them stop," the young brunette muttered out loud, so quietly it was barely an expelled breath, but Dick heard her all the same, and he quietly snickered.

"What do you want me to do?" he whispered back, and Reese shrugged as Conner responded to Artemis's... _offer._

_'Uh, sure,'_ the genomorph began slowly, looking fairly uncomfortable. ' _It'd be a great team-building exercise, you know, for all of us...uh, does anyone else smell monkey, cause this jungle reeks of monkey,'_

At the abrupt subject change, Silverbird flicked her eyes upward, narrowing them a bit as she processed what Conner had said.

It wasn't really common knowledge, but along with the super-hearing, and the night-vision, and prediction ability, Reese also possessed an almost superhuman sense of smell. It also wasn't a skill she advertised all that much since it was actually a bit _weird_.

But, in order to somewhat corroborate Superboy's observation, Reese reached out, and her nostrils were instantly assaulted with the smell of wet fur, among other things.

' _God, it smells like the monkey cages at the Star City zoo out here,'_ Silverbird muttered through the mental link, jerking back a few inches and almost slipping again on the wet leaves, had Robin not spun around at the last moment and caught her.

For a moment, all Reese and Dick did was stare at each other, before Wally began to snicker again, and the spell was broken, causing both birds to level identical glares towards the teenage speedster before, finally, Kaldur cut in.

' _Enough_ ,' their leader said firmly, causing everyone's attention to turn to him. ' _I know we are all adolescents--but we do not have to be cliches. We must focus on the mission at hand._'

Silverbird heard the bushes around the Team rustle, a split-second before the seven of them were surrounded on all sides by a large group of gorillas.

Gorillas that were, quite obviously, hyped up on _copious_ amounts of Kobra Venom. 

Much like the elephants that she, Aqualad, and Captain Marvel had faced in India, Reese was able to see where sections of the gorillas' skin had pulled away, revealing the taut muscle underneath.

' _Yeah,_ ' Dick added slowly as his eyes flicked around, studying and gauging the capabilities of the enhanced apes surrounding them. ' _I see your point,_ '

' _Remove their inhibitor collars!'_ Kaldur shouted, turning his water-bearers into a pair of maces, and began swinging them around, trying to break through the mass of furry ape that converged on their group. ' _Then they will break off their attack,'_

_'One...problem...'_ Silverbird muttered as one of the gorillas held her against a tree by her throat. ' _These apes aren't wearing inhibitor collars,'_

Then, with nothing more than what Reese could describe as a growl of frustration, the gorilla yanked her away from the tree and tossed her like a limp ragdoll through the bushes.

Silverbird landed heavily on the ground, and for a moment, Reese just lay there, the wind knocked completely out of her. It was an odd and fearful sensation, she had noticed over the years, to have the wind, the _breath_ , to be knocked from her lungs. To not be able to breathe, or make a sound, no matter how hard you tried...

' _Miss Martian!'_ Kaldur's voice echoing slightly over the psychic link was what finally made Silverbird sit up, coughing slightly in order to catch her breath. ' _Camouflage-mode. You will be our secret weapon in case this goes wrong.'_

_'Acknowledged,'_ M'gann responded as Reese stumbled through the trees towards the clearing where her teammates, her _friends_ , were currently fighting a losing battle.

' _We must escape and regroup,'_ Kaldur added after a moment. ' _Robin, Silverbird, lay down our cover!'_

_'Way ahead of you, Boss-Man!'_ Reese was able to hear Dick's gleeful exclamation just as he threw down a smoke bomb, but instead of making her feel better, it just made her head pound even more.

The smoky gray haze that followed prompted Wally to put on his infrared goggles and attempt to clear a path, but what Reese suddenly, and very abruptly noticed, was the massive gorilla standing right in the redhead's path, whom Wally ran into about five seconds later.

"Where'd this hairy wall come from?" Kid Flash shouted out loud but paused when he noticed just what it was that he had run into. "Oh, God..." Wally muttered.

' _Not God,'_ Reese heard M'gann's voice in her head again. ' _Grodd..._ '

Reese didn't know what had happened when that gorilla had thrown her through the bushes earlier, but whatever it was, it had most definitely given her a concussion. A concussion that made Silverbird fall unconscious two seconds later, just outside the clearing.

Robin, meanwhile, knew something was wrong immediately. Much like when the Team had been in India, a feeling of dread began to pool in the pit of his stomach, causing him to almost run into a tree trunk.

At the same time, Artemis called out to all of them. "Guys, I think we're off-line!"

She was right. Dick wasn't able to hear his friends' thoughts anymore, and when he tried to reach out to Miss Martian, he didn't get an answer. More importantly, he wasn't able to hear _Reese's_ thoughts anymore, and the golden arrowhead in his utility belt had begun to make that strange ' _dinging_ ' sound again.

Dick was starting to realize that that meant Reese was in danger, and he _didn't know where she was._

"She must be unconscious," Kaldur's voice jerked the Boy Wonder from his spiraling thoughts, and Robin glanced over towards where Aqualad and Superboy were standing, alert as always. "And _still_ camouflaged,"

"Silverbird's gone too!" Dick shouted over his shoulder, jumping back to avoid the flying fist of the ape he was currently fighting.

"Scanning for them with infrared now..." Conner spoke up, but before Superboy was either able to say that he _could_ see Reese and M'gann, or that he _couldn't_ , Dick saw another gorilla erupt from the tree behind Kaldur and Conner.

Before Robin was able to warn them--before Dick was able to do _anything,_ Aqualad and Superboy had been, quite literally, jumped on, their two most durable heroes knocked out cold by humongous monkey feet.

Then, one by one, they each began to fall, taken out by gorillas that weren't wearing inhibitor collars, and therefore attacking the heroes of their own free will. _Kind of_.

After Kaldur and Conner, Artemis was next. She tried to swing her bow out at one of the gorillas, but the beast caught it in one hand, and the weapon was shattered instantly. Cue the inhibitor collar's electrical shock, and the blonde archer was knocked out cold.

The next victim was Wally. Distracted by seeing Artemis writhing around on the ground from the electrical shock, Kid Flash didn't see the ape stalking up behind him until it was too late.

Then, only Robin was left.

As an ape grabbed at him, Dick vaulted clean over the creature's head, using the massive hairy arm flying towards him as a springboard, and jumping even higher into the air in order to get clear.

But, everything went sideways, quite literally, when Robin felt a massive hand wrap around his ankle, and slammed him, _hard_ against the jungle floor. After that, Dick wasn't sure what happened, but he was just hoping that Reese, wherever she was, okay.

**G O R I L L A C I T Y  
** **September 26, 23:59 CAT**

It would seem that Batman had been right, the Brain _did_ have another Kobra Venom operation going on in the Bwundan jungle, but what the Team hadn't known was what exactly he was up to.

"Excellent work, mes amis," the living organ said to the enhanced apes, who had just delivered the unconscious heroes straight into his clutches. But, something wasn't right. A few of them were missing. "But where is le martien?" the Brain asked. "And where is le petit canari and mon loup?"

One of the gorillas that had delivered Robin, Aqualad, Superboy, Artemis, and Kid Flash made a series of hand motions in response to the Brain's question, and Ultra-Humanite, whom the other villain was working with, spoke up, a voice coming out of a box strapped to the white-furred gorilla's chest.

"What's he saying?" Humanite asked, and the Brain seemed to be a bit condescending when answering.

"Mon frère," the evil genius began. "Have you not learned la langue des signes?" _Sign language._

"I've been a tad busy surgically upgrading _your_ apes," Humanite retorted sharply. "So, if you wouldn't mind?"

"He says la martien was invisible," the Brain began, before correcting himself. "No, not invisible-- _camoufle._ Zey knocked her and le petit canari out, but couldn't find leurs corps,"

"And what of your wolf?" Humanite asked, and the Brain hmphed.

"Zese idiots," he spoke towards the gorillas. "Didn't realize I wanted la creature. Zey let him go,"

"To be fair," Humanite added. "You ordered them to bring the Team. You didn't specify to include their _pet._ The Kobra Venom has made them physically superior, and our brain-enhancement procedures have granted them sentience--but you cannot expect _genius_ ,"

"C'est vrai," The Brain admitted reluctantly, before waving a robotic appendage towards Monsieur Mallah, who was crouched to the side. "I blame Mallah. He has spoiled me, bringing le petit canari to me ze first time. But, zey cannot _all_ be Mallahs,"

Humanite then held up a small vile, which contained a thick purple liquid. "And the Kobra Venom itself may be interfering with the mental enhancement. Meanwhile," Humanite added. "The solution to our missing subjects is a simple one,"

"Oui," the Brain agreed, before extending an appendage towards the Kobra Venom-enhanced apes. "Take zese infrared goggles. Find le petit canari, le martien, and le loup...and do not return without zem,"

"Or there will be consequences," Humanite added, and the gorillas walked out of the lair.

➼➼➼

The first thing that Reese noticed when she blinked her eyes open was that her head hurt, a _lot._ Sitting up from where she had been laying against the ground, Reese put her head between her knees and took a few deep breaths, trying not to throw up.

At some point, probably when she got thrown through the jungle, Reese's braid had come undone, and now her hair hung in a curly dark brown curtain in front of her face.

The second thing she noticed was that, as Silverbird looked around after moving her hair from in front of her eyes, there was absolutely _nothing_ even remotely distinguishable about where she was.

Aside from the grayish-blue floor she and M'gann were sitting on, there was nothing familiar or even remotely _right_ about where they were, aside from a seemingly endless black void of nothingness.

' _Where..._ ' Reese glanced towards M'gann as the Martian's voice appeared in her head, in time to see her friend sitting up wearily. ' _Where are we?'_

Silverbird shrugged. ' _No idea_ ,' she answered. ' _I just want to know what the heck happened,'_ Before M'gann was able to respond in any way, four gorillas, who were obviously hyped up on Kobra Venom, appeared out of _nowhere_ in front of Silverbird and Miss Martian.

' _Grodd happened, human,' _the brown gorilla sneered, and to say Reese was shocked that the creatures seemed to be telepathic would be a gross understatement. ' _And Grodd demands your help,'_

One of the other gorillas, this one with dark, smoky gray fur, reached forward with a surprisingly gentle hand, and after a moment of skepticism, Reese shook it.

' _Manners, my love_ ,' the gorilla spoke, with a feminine voice. ' _We desire the humans' help. We do not demand it,'_

_'Silverbird's human_ ,' M'gann corrected as she shook the female gorilla's hand as well. ' _But I'm Martian. Miss Martian,'_

_'I'm not sure I understand_ ,' another male gorilla spoke, this one with light gray fur, and a white slash running up his forehead from his right browbone. ' _Our vocabulary expands rapidly--but there are still gaps,'_

Reese and M'gann exchanged a glance before M'gann turned back to the ape. ' _It...probably doesn't matter,'_ she said finally before the light gray gorilla spoke again.

' _I am Solovar, the Alpha of this troop,'_ he began as he helped both Silverbird and Miss Martian to their feet, before gesturing to the three other gorillas. ' _This is my mate, Boka. This is Primat,'_

Primat was the gorilla who had first shaken Reese's hand, but the young brunette couldn't help but notice that both hers and Boka's demeanors were sort of... _melancholy_ , for lack of a better word.

' _And this, of course,'_ Solovar continued, bringing Silverbird's attention back. ' _Is Gorilla Grodd,'_

Gorilla Grodd was the dark brown one, the one who had sort of threatened Reese and M'gann when they first met, and frankly, he made Silverbird a bit uneasy.

But, she supposed that if _you_ had a telepathic gorilla yelling at you to help, you'd probably be a bit uneasy too.

' _But where are we?'_ M'gann began to rapid-fire her questions. ' _Why is it so dark? How are you capable of telepathy? Why did you attack us?'_

Off to the side, Silverbird heard Boka and Primat whisper in hushed tones over the psychic link.

' _All these questions all at once,'_ Boka began. ' _Like an infant,'_

_'Well,'_ Primat added. ' _They are both young for their species,_ ' 

Now, Reese knew that _she_ was young for a "human", so to speak, but she was pretty sure that M'gann was in her forties. By Martian standards anyway, she looked sixteen human-wise.

' _We will strive to enlighten you,_ ' Solovar said solemnly. ' _But time is short. The strangers arrived two years ago...an old woman, a thin man, and their borrowed Shadows. They constructed a single cave of metal--a kwan-zett hut--to conduct their experiments. They captured Mallah, a young male of our troop, and operated on his brain. Mallah... approved. Even betrayed his own kind to his new masters. Good Tolifhar was the first to fall. They murdered the ape we knew, replacing Tolifhar's brain with the old woman's. The result was that abomination. The Ultra-Humanite,'_

_'But the horror continued,'_ Primat added. ' _Ultra-Humanite and Mallah extracted the brain from their thin human companion and placed it within a hollow metal tree stump. This new thing wanted complete freedom from the distractions of the physical...to simply be The Brain. They built more metal caves and called their new kingdom Gorilla City. It is their little joke, for here they have enslaved every gorilla of our troop. Only the Holy One escaped,'_

_'They put us all in inhibitor collars,'_ Boka continued. ' _And performed their enhancement surgery on our brains. We gained in intelligence, awareness,_ _sentience_ _, but neither happiness nor freedom. More recently, they injected us with their Kobra Venom. The process was very painful...but it made us larger and stronger,'_

_'But they are ignorant of our greatest strength,'_ Grodd growled again. ' _The telepathy their enhancements have provided. And thus have they scattered the seeds of their own end!'_

On that ominous note, Reese decided it would probably be best she speak up, lest Grodd threw a...temper tantrum or something.

' _But,'_ she began. ' _The four of you aren't wearing inhibitor collars. Why are you still helping the Brain and Ultra-Humanite?'_

_'They have an even greater hold on us,'_ Solovar said morosely.

' _Our children,'_ Boka added, and Reese sucked in a sharp breath.

' _If we do not obey all of their commands,'_ Primat continued. ' _Their lives are forfeit,'_

_'That's horrible!'_ M'gann exclaimed.

' _They have your troop as well,' _Grodd spoke up, looking towards M'gann. ' _All in collars. We will rescue them. You will secure our progeny, and together, you and I--that is, you and Solovar,'_ Grodd added after a moment, causing Reese to quirk an eyebrow. ' _You will lead the revolution,'_

_'Wait,'_ M'gann cut in, waving her hands around. ' _I don't lead our team!'_

_'How can that be?'_ Grodd asked, sounding almost confused. ' _Your mind is clearly the most powerful. And you--' _The massive brown gorilla then brought his head close to Reese, causing Silverbird to lean back a few inches. ' _Your mind is...different. It is shielded and it took effort for us to be able to psychically communicate,'_

_'Uh...sorry?'_ Reese apologized, because what was she supposed to say to that? She _knew_ she wasn't telepathic because the power would've shown up long before now, but she had no idea what the "psychic shield" was supposed to mean.

Maybe that was why she'd had a headache ever since she'd woken up. Grodd and the other's psychic effort, so to speak, was putting a strain on her mind, since apparently her mind was shielded. Yeah, she'd like them to stop anytime now.

As it were, Grodd and turned back towards Solovar, Boka, and Primat, looking more than a little bit pissed off.

' _We deal with underlings!'_ he shouted through the psychic link, making Silverbird's headache worse. ' _They cannot even guarantee their Alpha's cooperation!'_

Reese was pretty sure Aqualad would go along with Grodd's plan if it meant the baby gorillas were going to be okay, but before she was able to say anything of the sort, Solovar spoke up.

' _And yet we have no choice but to trust them,_ ' the light-furred gorilla said sternly, before turning towards M'gann and Reese. ' _And to demonstrate that trust, we return you to the physical plane, and return your beast to your arms,'_

**G O R I L L A C I T Y  
** **September 27 00:00 CAT**

When Reese opened her eyes again, she, M'gann, and the four gorillas were standing in some sort of warehouse, and Wolf was sitting calmly in front of Solovar. M'gann gave a psychic exclamation of joy as she wrapped her arms around the enhanced canine's neck, before turning towards Solovar again.

' _Okay, Silverbird and I are on board. And I promise, our Team will be too, but--'_

_'We need a plan,'_ Reese cut in, and Solovar almost seemed to smile.

' _Oh, we have a plan...'_ he said simply, and Reese wasn't sure if she should be glad about that or not.

➼➼➼

Robin had a plan. At the moment, Dick, along with Artemis, Wally, Conner, and Kaldur, were shackled to some sort of large metal slab, while the Brain, Ultra-Humanite, and Monsieur Mallah conversed in front of them.

The Boy Wonder couldn't see Reese, but Dick wasn't entirely sure if he should be relieved that she hadn't been captured, or scared that it meant she was still out in the jungle.

He decided to feel a little bit of both.

"What is our plan for these _heroes_?" Ultra-Humanite asked the Brain as Dick started listening again, in time to hear the evil genius's answer.

"So many options," he began, the mechanical French accent grating on Robin's nerves. "Ze brain extraction, ze experiments avec Kobra Venom and ze Project Cadmus. I suggest we choose... _all_ of ze above!"

Just to be clear, Dick's plan didn't include "all of ze above". Or any of it, for that matter.

➼➼➼

Meanwhile, outside one of the other warehouses, Reese and M'gann walked towards the two Shadows guarding the door. They were disguised, obviously. M'gann had shifted into a Shadow herself, while Reese was able to snag an extra uniform from a laundry cart.

Luckily, it was a clean one.

"We're here to relieve you," M'gann called sternly, but one of the Shadows was entirely disbelieving.

"We just came on duty!" the Shadow retorted, unsheathing his sword. "And why's your watch partner so short?" Reese felt her eyebrow twitch, but for the time being, she managed to keep her temper, as M'gann cocked a hip.

"Don't be a bongo-brain," she retorted. "Your watch duty's been over for fifteen minutes," When it still didn't look like the Shadow was going to stand down, M'gann sighed heavily. "Oh, well," she muttered. "Have it your way,"

If Reese was able to see underneath the Shadow's mask, she probably would've seen confusion, and maybe a little bit of fear, just as Reese landed a right hook to the side of the Shadow's jaw.

In his moment of deliriousness, Silverbird jabbed her elbow against the back of the Shadow's head, and the assassin dropped like a rock. In the meantime, M'gann had defeated the other Shadow, levitating her up into the single light above the warehouse door, then letting her drop to the floor.

Team--2, Shadows--0.

As soon as both Shadows were down for the count, Silverbird reached up and ripped the full ski-mask-like face covering that the League of Shadows used to conceal their identities, sucking in a deep breath of jungle air as she did so.

"God," she wheezed. "How do they _breathe_ in these things? It's like having a quilt over your face," M'gann giggled, before shifting back into her normal form and swiping a key card from one of the fallen Shadows.

After she swiped it through the scanner, there was a soft beep, before the doors slid open, and Reese and M'gann were met with a sight that made both of them squeal. Over six baby gorillas lay asleep on small cradle-like beds, and they were, maybe, the cutest little things that Reese had ever seen.

"They're too cute!" M'gann exclaimed, and Reese was inclined to agree.

Now, only to get the little things out of here before Mallah, or Humanite or the Brain came to see what was going on. To do so, M'gann shifted into a small, green gorilla, and most of the babies jumped up in glee, beginning to follow Reese's friend outside.

Silverbird went to follow but noticed that one of the baby apes hadn't moved. A small, gray gorilla with dark eyes was still sitting in the crib, blinking up at her as if Reese were something that the baby just couldn't _quite_ figure out.

"It's okay," Reese said quietly, walking forward carefully, so as not to spook the little thing. Baby gorillas obviously weren't as aggressive when threatened as an alpha, like Solovar, but Reese didn't want to take any chances.

Slowly, Silverbird reached down and grabbed the small baby, whispering over and over again that things were going to be okay. The baby ape stared up at Reese for a few seconds more, before wrapping her arms around the brunette's neck, and hanging there.

Carefully, Reese brought her arms up and held the baby ape as if she were a human baby, and Reese supposed that wasn't so far off.

➼➼➼

"Well, here's your wolf," Ultra-Humanite said as Grodd dropped the limp form in front of the Brain. "But, where's the Martian and canary?"

Grodd made signed a few words before the Brain translated the sign language.

"Le Grodd signs that Solovar still searches ze brush pour eux," the villain said, though both were unaware of the subtle click from the shackles around Robin's wrists as the lockpick Dick had built into his glove finally unlocked.

Good, he thought to himself. At least that meant Reese was safe. For the time being anyway. Better hurry.

➼➼➼

' _We got them!'_ M'gann cried out telepathically as she and Reese returned to Boka and Primat, who were back in the jungle. ' _And they're adorable!'_

Primat and Boka both let out cries of endearment as they were reunited with their babies, as the others climbed over their shoulders. Through all of this, Reese and the baby gorilla she was holding stood almost awkwardly off to the side, and Reese couldn't help but feel she was interrupting something.

' _We'll take Ulgo, Kamau, Toto, and Nzame to their mothers,'_ Boka said finally.

' _Protected by the Holy One,'_ Primat added. ' _They wait in a place of safety Mallah doesn't know--and cannot betray!'_

_'Wait!'_ Reese exclaimed, running forward, and bringing Boka's and Primat's attention to the baby ape in her arms. ' _What about this one?'_ Boka's face turned sad as she gently reached out and took the small ape from Reese, staying silent for a moment before finally, she spoke.

' _Little Zira lost her mother to some poachers a few months ago,_ ' Boka began, a motherly tone taking over her voice. ' _We've been trying to care for her as best we can, the troop is like family, but it isn't the same,'_

_'That's terrible,'_ Reese whispered over the psychic link, feeling her throat close up, and Boka and Primat both nodded.

' _Some humans are just not like the two of you,'_ Primat said solemnly. ' _The evil in this world is immeasurable,'_

➼➼➼ _  
_

There wasn't a psychic link established, so Dick wasn't entirely sure if the others were faking unconsciousness like he was, or if they were _actually_ knocked out. Robin didn't have his utility belt, and if the rest of his Team was really unconscious, that meant he was on his own, against the Brain _and_ three Kobra-Venomed gorillas.

After thinking things over in his head for a few moments more, Dick figured this was as good a time as any to attempt his escape. Not wasting another moment, Robin undid his shackles and seemingly disappeared, cackling as he did so.

"The Boy Wonder!" Humanite shouted. "He's gone!"

"Comment c'est possible!" the Brain exclaimed. "Ze door is sealed! Where could he have gone?"

Dick grabbed his utility belt from where it had been laying on a nearby control panel, clipped it on, and took three smoke bombs from one of the pouches, rolling them across the floor and allowing the choking gray smoke to escape.

Deciding that he should probably take out the big brown gorilla first, Robin took out his taser, the same taser he'd tried to use on Superboy, back in July, and aimed it at the massive ape, letting the volts of electricity course through his entire system.

Then, Dick made his way towards Conner, managing to disable Superboy's inhibitor collar, just as a massive hand appeared from behind and yanked Robin away, holding him in such a way that Dick knew that the gorilla would crush him without hesitation if given the order.

' _Miss Martian, are you in range?'_ to his own shock, Dick suddenly heard Kaldur's voice in his head.

' _I heard that!'_ Artemis exclaimed as Conner, quite literally, ripped his shackles from the wall. ' _M'gann and Reese must be--'_

_'No!'_ Superboy interrupted. ' _It doesn't feel right! It's not M'gann! It's--'_

_'It is Grodd,'_ a rough voice growled, and Robin had a sinking feeling it was coming from the gorilla that was currently holding him as if he were a stress ball. ' _Now, listen to me, humans...'_

Frankly, Dick could've done without the pounding headache that came along with Grodd's psychic link.

➼➼➼ _  
_

Some plan this was. 

Dick wasn't putting it past this _Grodd_ to somehow double-cross them in some way, but right now, there wasn't really anything he could do about it, because at that moment, the warehouse's ventilation system kicked in, and the smoke that was from Robin's bombs was sucked away.

"Ventilation's finally kicked in," Humanite mused, as the Brain's outer shell retracted, showcasing his small arsenal of energy weapons.

"And I have summoned ze reinforcements..." the Brain added, as the Team stood off against him, Mallah, and Ultra-Humanite.

"Good!" Wally shouted. " 'Cause, you're gonna need them!"

"Grodd," Humanite said simply. "Destroy them,"

"Zat may not be necessary mon ami..." the Brain began, as Solovar, one of the other gorillas, appeared in the warehouse, holding the limp forms of Reese and M'gann in one hand. "Notre Solovar has la martien and la petit canari--and will _wring their necks_ if zese enfants do not stand down!"

Robin knew this was all part of the plan, he _knew that_ and he _knew_ that Reese wasn't in immediate danger, at least, not any more than the rest of them at the moment. The arrowhead that hung around his neck underneath his costume wasn't making any noise, but if seeing Reese hanging limp from a ten-foot ape's hand wasn't complete nightmare material for him, Dick wasn't sure what was.

"Then you leave us no choice..." Aqualad said firmly, before flinging his water-bearers out like whips and almost flying forward. "Start the revolution!"

Solovar dropped Reese and M'gann onto the ground with not a scratch between them, and honestly, Dick was so relieved (and distracted), that he was almost decapitated by a Shadow, had Reese not tackled him out of the way at the last moment.

"You're okay," he whispered, positive that Reese was able to hear him, even over the din of the battle echoing around them. "I was so scared..." He trailed off, simply because he wasn't sure what to say.

There were so many things he _wanted_ to say, but Dick highly doubted this was the time or place for that.

"I'm okay, Boy Wonder," Reese echoed, giving Dick a smile, a smile that, and feel free to call the Boy Wonder smug, he _knew_ Reese didn't give anyone else but him. "Now, ready to kick some evil genius butt?"

For the first time since he had been captured, and found out that Silverbird was MIA, Robin grinned, he _really_ grinned.

"You know it, pretty bird," he retorted, before letting Reese pull him to his feet.

As the others took care of the Shadows, Ultra-Humanite, and Mallah, that left Dick and Reese to stop the Brain. Silverbird shot an arrow towards the base of the Brain, and an eruption of silvery gray foam encased the evil genius with ease and skill that Dick admired. Like, _really_ admired.

"My optical sensors!" the Brain cried. " _Imbéciles_! You _cannot_ blind ze Brain!"

"No," Robin admitted, taking a running jump and leap-frogging over the top of the Brain, slapping a wing-ding onto the clear dome, showcasing the pink organ inside. "But I bet I _can_ give it indigestion!"

As soon as a disk was secure, electricity arced out from the small device, somewhat short-circuiting the Brain's systems, for the time being.

With Mallah, the Shadows, and the Brain down, that left Ultra-Humanite, and from what Dick was able to see, Kaldur and Grodd had _that_ particular situation handled. Grodd knocked Humanite down to the ground and raised both fists above his head.

' _This is for Tolifhar, human!'_ the massive brown gorilla yelled, and the sheer force of the psychic shout made Robin clench his eyes shut and stumble, the headache he'd had since Grodd first made contact now feeling a thousand times worse.

Think the sort of headache you get when you've been staring at screens for too long, multiplied by like, a million. That was how his head felt right now And, from what Dick was able to see since everything in front of his eyelids suddenly looked like it belonged in a carnival funhouse, Reese wasn't feeling too hot either.

Not that she wasn't-- _yeah_ , let's stop _that_ thought before M'gann or Wally get wind of it.

As it were, Dick had bigger things to worry about at the moment, like how it seemed like the Brain and Humanite _hadn't_ known that their _experiments_ even remotely held a telepathic ability.

"Brain, the apes!" Humanite grunted. "They are telepathic!"

"Indeed," the other villain observed. "Un développement intéressant. Mais zis is not ze time for study. Attention révolutionnaires!" the Brain shouted after a moment. "I have activated ze self-destruct! La Ville de Gorille is doomed! Vous avez cinq minutes!"

Now, Dick might not be omnilingual like Reese was, but he knew enough French to know that they had five minutes before everything exploded. _Great._ That is unless the Brain was bluffing. It had happened in India, and it could very well happen here too.

Beside him, Reese mumbled something that was too quiet and too quickly said for Dick to catch the first time around, so he leaned towards her so he'd be able to hear her better.

"What?" he asked.

"Not lying," the brunette repeated, clenching her eyes shut and trying to fight off the throes of her headache, as Dick sighed. So much for not bluffing.

' _Grodd!'_ Solovar said psychically to the other ape, bringing with it a whole new round of mental pain to Dick and Reese. ' _We must go! Now!'_

So the eleven of them bolted, Solovar bringing them along an elevated ridge that overlooked the valley where "Gorilla City" was located, in time for them to be far enough away as the compound exploded.

➼➼➼

The sun was just beginning to rise as their group reached the base of a cave on the edge of the jungle, where two female gorillas, along with a couple of young ones, were waiting for them.

' _Solovar, thank the Holy One!'_ One of the female gorillas exclaimed, and at this point, Dick figured he was getting used to the pounding headache that was taking him over every time the gorillas telepathically communicated. ' _With the explosion, we feared--'_

_'We are fine, my love,'_ Solovar said, embracing the female gorilla, and Dick honestly didn't know if he should feel weirded out or not. ' _No casualties. I believe even our tormentors escaped,'_

_'Where is the Holy One?'_ Grodd asked.

' _Gone,_ ' another one of the gorillas answered. ' _He has seen us liberated, but we are no longer his to protect. Our time with Congorilla is gone,'_

Movement from just inside the cave caught Robin's attention, and he poked his head around in time to see a small baby gorilla with gray fur walk slowly out into the rising sunshine, looking almost shy.

To Dick's surprise, Reese crouched down, holding a single hand out, and the baby gorilla, after a moment, took it.

' _Zira has been waiting for you,_ ' One of the female gorillas said, causing Reese to glance up towards her. ' _I told you earlier that our troop was like family, but I believe your family may suit her better,_'

' _You mean...bring her back with us?' _Reese asked, shock lacing her mental tone, and even Solovar seemed to understand.

' _Boka is right,_ ' he said simply. ' _When she is older, she can return to us, but for the time being, it may be best for her to stay with you,_ '

Honestly, Dick couldn't _wait_ for Reese to try and explain how she came to have a baby gorilla to Oliver.

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
** **September 27, 04:17 EDT  
** **FIVE YEARS LATER**

Wow, what a trip down memory lane _that_ was. 

Though, Nightwing didn't think he could complain. Sometimes, when he was bored, or the Team didn't have a pressing mission at the moment, he'd look through some of his old case notes, remembering what the "good old days" had been like.

"Gorillas," Dick muttered, half to himself. "Man, those _were_ the days. All aster. No dis. We didn't know how good we had it,"

The sound of heels clicking against the stone floor of the cave caught his attention and Nightwing felt his heart speed up. Almost five years together and she could still make him feel like a lovesick fool ninety percent of the time. That was fine though. He liked it.

"Any particular reason you're here at four in the morning, Hero?"

"You're one to talk, pretty bird," Dick retorted, spinning around in one smooth motion, dissolving the holo-screens and placing his hands on Reese's hips.

Reese's nickname for him had evolved over the years, after Jason, and then Tim took up the mantle that Dick had originally created, but he wasn't complaining about it. If Dick were being completely honest, he liked " _Hero_ " better.

It also didn't matter how old they were, thirteen and twelve, or eighteen and seventeen, but Dick was still taller than his girlfriend.

At this point, the top of Reese's head came to the bottom of Dick's nose, but her head reached his browbone when she wore heels. Like now, for example. But, as he leaned down and gently brushed his nose against hers, Dick didn't find a problem with it.

"Late-night Justice League meeting at the Watchtower," Reese whispered, her sweet breath brushing against Dick's lips. "Dad and Dinah left me all alone,"

"Poor you," Dick retorted softly, one corner of his mouth twitching up into a smirk, and the fact that it made Reese give him _that_ smile made it all the more worth it.

"Well," she began sarcastically, leaning back a few inches and taking the elastic from her hair, leaving the dark brown waves almost perpetually curly as they cascaded down her back. "I was _going_ to ask if you wanted to come over, but you know, if you're too busy, I can always ask Cooper--"

"No," the word exited Dick's mouth almost before he could think about it, and it came out with more bite than he intended. He wouldn't admit he was jealous of Reese's friendship with Clara's son. He _wouldn't._ "I'm done here anyway,"

"Really?" Reese asked, though her eyes were sparkling. "Because it looks like you have a few more case notes--"

Now, if you ever asked him, Dick would say that he'd never get tired of hearing his girlfriend talk. Honestly, he could listen to her for hours and never get bored. But, at the moment, Nightwing was getting impatient, so, in order to get Reese _to_ stop talking, he did what always seemed to work.

He kissed her. Dick had kissed Reese thousands of times before over the years, but he knew he'd never get tired of the feeling, and the former Robin swore he could get drunk off it, and he would be totally okay with that. 

He felt Silverbird run her fingers through his hair, and Nightwing tugged her closer, his hands splaying across Reese's back as she made the smallest little gasp noise that Dick absolutely _loved._

But, before things got too heated since there _were_ other people in Mount Justice at the moment, and that was something strictly reserved for when they were alone, the two teen heroes pulled away from each other, and Nightwing noticed a few strands of Reese's hair had fallen in front of her eyes, making Dick lightly brush them away with his fingers.

" _Me mangav tut_ ," Dick whispered, the Romani slipping out at the last moment. _I love you_.

" _I az te obicham,_ " Reese's voice was soft, and to say that the slight accent she got every time she spoke Bulgarian was the complete and utter best thing that Dick had ever heard would be a gross understatement.

He'd said they had it good years ago, but Nightwing knew things were good right now, and he wouldn't change that for anything in the world. He had Reese, and she was his home. The only person that Dick Grayson would ever _really_ need. He couldn't imagine doing this, _any_ of this, with anyone else.

Whatever came next, whatever villains the Team or Justice League would need to go up against, they'd defeat them, because Dick had Reese, and as long as they were together, he knew things would be okay.


	20. 18. Revelation

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
** **October 1, 18:13 EDT**

Over an entire week after the Team's almost-disastrous mission to India, Reese's burns were almost completely healed. Even with their little excursion to Gorilla City a few days ago to stop the Brain, Monsieur Mallah, and Ultra-Humanite, Reese's burns _had_ been healing well.

There was still a ways to go, which was the main reason that Oliver and Bruce hadn't allowed her to start training again. So, at the moment, Reese, dressed in a dark blue Star City hoodie and black leggings, sat cross-legged on the edge of the cave's training circle, Zira sitting in her lap, as they both watched Robin and Aqualad train instead.

The gorilla that Reese was currently raising had started to settle in well at Mount Justice since it was practically a given that Ollie wouldn't let his daughter bring the baby ape home.

But, Conner and M'gann cared for Zira whenever Reese wasn't able to be there, and she was currently spending almost all of her free time at the Team's headquarters, to help when and wherever she could.

Though it looked like Zira couldn't be more than a few months old, Reese and Dick had both taken to try and teach her sign language, since they weren't entirely sure yet whether or not Zira was telepathic, like the other apes in her former troop.

As Reese's attention was brought to the side by Captain Marvel, who was eating one of Wally's protein bars, and Zatara, who apparently was the Team's "den mother" this week, Zira took it upon herself to yank on the chain holding the golden arrowhead around Reese's neck, jerking the brunette's head down a few inches.

"No," Reese said gently, prying Zira's fingers off the object and tucking the necklace back under her collar. "We don't do that,"

It had come to Reese's attention in the last ninety-six hours that, much like any small child (or a magpie), Zira was _immensely_ fascinated with anything even remotely shiny, even the ancient magical arrowhead currently hanging from Reese's neck.

Realizing that Dick and Kaldur's sparring session was almost over, she stood up, walking over to the two as Conner, M'gann, and Wolf entered the cave from one of the adjacent hallways.

"You know they're a couple, right?" Dick asked from the corner of his mouth, using his hand to shield half of his face.

"I believe _I_ knew before they did," Aqualad answered simply, and Reese grinned as Zira clenched her hands, before quite literally climbing from Reese's arms into Dick's.

"I'm pretty sure _everyone_ knew before they did," Reese retorted as Zira climbed on top of Dick's head and began messing with his hair. "You know, except for Wally and Artemis,"

The sound of footsteps made the three turn and, speak of the devil, the Team's resident speedster and Reese's "cousin" walked into the cave side-by-side, from yet another hallway.

"But, do we _tell_ them?" Dick asked before Kaldur gave both him and Reese a slightly disapproving look.

"It is not our place," he said firmly, just as Wally and Artemis reached them.

"Nice hat, Robin," Artemis smirked, tilting her head towards Zira who at this point had managed to mess Dick's hair up enough that it looked like he had just rolled out of bed.

Robin rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses but made no move to take Zira off his head, just as Wally pointed a finger towards the two Leaguers on the other side of the training circle.

"So, if Zatara's our babysitter of the week," the redhead began, before turning to point at Captain Marvel. "Why is _he_ still here? And why is he eating my snacks?"

Before anyone could give an answer to Wally's whining, the Zeta tube turned on, alerting them to the arrival of someone else.

**_Recognized Batman 0-2_ **

The Dark Knight hadn't even fully materialized before he was speaking, a gruff edge to his voice that Reese had heard multiple times before.

"Computer, National News," he said shortly, before a holoscreen appeared, showcasing Cat Grant reporting on... _something._

" _The initial attack was short-lived..._" the blonde woman began, as the holo-screen changed to show a video of what looked to be giant plants attacking Metropolis. " _But Metropolis was only granted a short reprieve. And despite the intervention of Superman and the Justice League, there seems to be no end in sight,_"

"Should we get out there?" Dick spoke up as Batman paused the newscast before turning around, his jaw set.

"No," he answered simply. "The League will soon have the situation under control, that's not why I'm here. According to your intel," Batman continued. "Sportsmaster supplied Cadmus' Blockbuster formula to Kobra,"

"Who combined it with Bane's Venom to create Kobra Venom," Wally added before Dick piggybacked off his friend's observation.

"Which the Brain used to create his animal army," he said.

"And upgrade Wolf," Conner scratched underneath the white wolf's massive chin.

"Along with Solovar's gorilla troop in Bwunda," Reese added, taking Zira off of Dick's head and allowing the Boy Wonder to finally fix his hair.

"The Brain also used inhibitor collars," M'gann continued. "Like the ones at Belle Reve Penitentiary,"

"Batman," Artemis said finally, her voice sounding worried. "Is it _possible_ that plant thingy's on Kobra Venom too?"

"I had Green Lantern run a spot analysis," Batman answered, bringing up a holo-image that showcased spiky balls, which Reese could only assume were Kobra Venom molecules. "The vine's cellulose _does_ contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant,"

"These _cannot_ be coincidences," Aqualad said firmly, and Reese was inclined to agree, as Dick began typing on a holo-keyboard. "Unrelated criminals cooperating with one another worldwide..."

"Exactly," Batman said simply, his cowl lenses narrowing. "It's now clear our enemies have formed some kind of... _Secret Society of Supervillains_. The attack on Metropolis is only the beginning,"

"Got that right," Dick muttered, glancing up from the holo-keyboard as four more screens appeared. "Plant creatures have sprouted in Gotham City, Paris, Star City, Taipei--"

Before he could continue, all of the holo-screens turned to static, and involuntarily, Reese gasped. Dick's fingers had already begun to fly across the keyboard again, trying to get the newsfeeds back up, but it didn't look like it was working.

"Dude..." Wally muttered as he stared at the static, but Dick only grunted in frustration.

"It's not me!" he exclaimed. "Someone's cutting into the satellite signal. _All_ satellite signals!"

Suddenly, the static was gone, but instead of the newsfeeds returning to the screens, it was something else. _Someone_ else. Reese gulped as she recognized the villain wearing a purple suit, with paper-white skin, dark green hair, and a wide, red-lipped, and menacing smile.

_Joker._

Silverbird had never interacted with the Clown Prince of Crime herself, but she had heard enough about him from Robin and Batman that she knew she _never_ wanted to.

Joker lightly rapped his knuckles against the lens of whatever camera he was using to broadcast as if seeing if it was actually recording before he finally stepped back.

" _Ladies and Gentlemen_ ," the psychotic clown began. " _We interrupt your regularly scheduled mayhem to bring you this important announcement,_" Joker took out a switchblade and spun it around for a moment before he continued, turning the camera to the side. " _From the Injustice League_,"

Despite the grave situation, Reese found herself rolling her eyes at the wholly _unoriginal_ name. Then, she recognized who else the Joker had gathered to be in his new _League_.

" _We_ ," Count Vertigo began, his heavy Vlatavan accent making him almost hard to understand. " _are responsible for the attacks on your cities. If you wish to save them, a ransom of ten billion American dollars is required. Delivery instructions have been sent to the United Nations. There is no time limit. But, the longer your governments wait--_ "

Before Vertigo could finish his threat, the camera panned back to Joker, and Reese subconsciously shivered with just how _gleeful_ he looked at the chaos he was causing.

" _The more we get to have our..._ _jollies_!"

With that, the screens turned back to static, as Batman tapped his commlink. "Roger that, Aquaman," he began. "The UN will prepare the ransom as a fallback. But it _won't_ come to that,"

Quickly, Dick rewound the footage from Joker's "broadcast", pausing it on a still that showed the six other members of this new Injustice League, and then he began to name names.

"Count Vertigo, the Joker, Poison Ivy, Ultra-Humanite, Atomic Skull, Black Adam, Wotan?!"

"Those are seven _heavy_ hitters," Reese murmured, glancing towards Dick. "They're probably behind almost everyone we've faced so far,"

"There's your secret society," Wally muttered morosely, as Artemis glanced over towards the four of them.

"Not so secret anymore," she added, sounding almost sarcastic as Kaldur glanced up.

"Perhaps after India and Bwunda," he began. "They realized we would deduce the truth and saw no point in hiding any longer,"

"Yeah!" Wally exclaimed suddenly, pumping a fist in the air. "That was their mistake. Right now, I say we go kick some plant creature butt!"

"The Justice League will handle the plants," Batman said simply. "I have a _different_ job for this team," Reese heard Wally groan in disappointment, before wincing in pain as Artemis promptly slugged him in the arm. "With the plants attacking so many locations simultaneously," Batman continued, ignoring Wally's mini outburst. "There _must_ be a central control system. Your mission is to destroy it,"

As she processed what it was exactly that Batman was asking, or rather, _telling_ them to do, Reese's mouth dropped open. This was _crazy_. Zatara, apparently, shared her sentiment.

"You realize what you're _really_ asking them to do?" the Italian man asked, walking up to stand beside Batman, whose expression didn't change.

"They're ready," he answered simply, and Reese internally grinned. Wally, on the other hand, was more than a little confused.

"Ready?" the speedster echoed. "Ready for what?" Artemis slugged him again, and Wally rubbed the spot where the blonde had hit him. " _Ow_! Will you cut that--"

" _Hello_ , Wally!" Artemis interrupted. "If the big guns are fighting plants, who do you think _we'll_ be fighting?"

"I don't know!" Wally retorted. "I guess we'll--" he was cut off again as Artemis jabbed her finger towards the holo-screens, where the paused video showcasing the members of the Injustice League was still visible. " _Oh..._ "

Beside the bickering pair, Reese rolled her eyes as Zira shimmied down her leg, landing on the floor and beginning to pull at the laces of Dick's shoe, as Zatara turned back towards Batman.

"Well, Batman," the magician began. "I trust you're correct,"

"I trust _you_ can locate the enemy?" the Dark Knight asked, and Zatara gave a small nod.

"Indeed," he answered simply. "Wotan's involvement suggests sorcery is part of how the plants are controlled. Robin," Zatara glanced towards Dick. "If you could provide a holo-map,"

A massive blue globe appeared between the Team, Batman, and Zatara before Zatara raised his hands.

"I'll search for signs of concentrated sorcerous activity," he said, before speaking in something Reese was only able to translate as English, but backward. "Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!" A small red arrow appeared on the globe, hovering on the southern United States' coast, just above the Gulf of Mexico. "There," Zatara said. "That is where you will find the Injustice League's central control system,"

"Coordinates locked in," Dick said simply. "The Louisiana Bayou,"

"We are on our way," Aqualad added.

**B A Y O U B A R T H O L O M E W  
** **October 1, 18:52 CDT**

At this point, all seven of them were in the Bioship, flying over a Louisiana swamp and making the last preparations to any equipment they might use in the firefight.

Kid Flash was eating a banana.

"What's in the duffel?" the speedster spoke up, gesturing with his snack, and subconsciously, Silverbird glanced down at the dark bag sitting by her feet. She glanced over at Aqualad, who only stared at Reese with an unreadable expression on his face before Silverbird turned back to Wally.

"Plan B," she answered simply, just as a massive wave of dizziness made Reese press her hand to the side of her head. From behind her, she could hear M'gann experiencing the same thing.

"Pretty bird, you okay?" Dick's voice was quiet, but all Reese could do was shake her head as she felt Robin's gloved hand on her knee, trying to silently will the dizziness to go away as Conner asked the same thing of M'gann.

"Ugh," Miss Martian groaned, glancing over at Superboy wearily. "Dizzy,"

"Martians get airsick?" Robin asked, glancing away from Silverbird momentarily to look at M'gann.

"She _does_ look a bit greener than usual," KF observed, but M'gann only shook her head.

"Not me," she insisted. "Her,"

"I feel fine," Artemis added, before glancing at the brunette still hunched over at the front of the Bioship, Robin staring at her, looking a bit helpless. "Reese?" But, all Silverbird could do was shake her head frantically, hands clamped on either side of her head, the headache worsening by the moment.

"Something's wrong," Wally said gravely, staring at Reese, and Dick glared at the redhead over his shoulder.

"Don't you think I know that?" he snapped sharply, frustration and worry lacing every word and causing Wally to jerk back in his chair. 

He had an inkling of what Reese was going through, the headaches they had both gotten from Grodd's psychic link in Bwunda was evidenced enough of that, but this was... _different_. This was _worse._

"It's Bioship," M'gann grunted finally as Robin gently took Silverbird's hands in his, rubbing his thumbs over the backs of her hands, trying to bring the girl _some_ sense of comfort. "She's trying to shield us, but--"

Whatever Miss M had been about to say was cut off as the Bioship spun around in the air before everyone inside felt a sharp jolt, and M'gann lost control of it, sending them all tumbling through the air like a baseball someone had thrown with the strength of Superman.

Finally, they were jerked to a stop as the Bioship landed in the water. But, it didn't seem like things were going to go their way, because just as Reese sat up again, her eyes looking a little bit clearer than they had been thirty seconds ago, giant thorny vines exploded out of the water, wrapping around the Bioship and holding it in place.

Above M'gann's head, Reese was able to see a jagged hole appearing in the top of the Martian aircraft, along with the rugged face of Black Adam as he tore into it.

"Ngh," M'gann groaned, hands clamped around her head. "He's hurting her," With that, Conner leaped up from his seat, landing a solid punch to Black Adam's face and knocking the villain away. But, with Black Adam gone, the Bioship began to sink, and the hole he had torn into the top suddenly began to flood with water.

"No," Silverbird heard Artemis mutter as Reese took the small rebreather handed to her by Dick. "No way am I drowning almost three missions in a row,"

Reese then dunked her head underneath the water, so she didn't hear or see what happened after that. It wasn't that Silverbird completely hated being submerged underwater. She was a pretty good swimmer, but the way all her senses were dimmed and muffled underwater was a bit disconcerting.

As it were, in order to stop herself from floating away as she waited for M'gann to open a hatch, Reese grabbed onto a chair. Or at least, she tried to. She accidentally grabbed Dick's hand instead.

But, instead of pulling away, Robin just glanced at her over his shoulder, smiled around his rebreather, tightened his grip around Silverbird's smaller hand, and grabbed a chair with his free hand, keeping both of them relatively anchored.

Finally, M'gann, now with gills, swam down to the floor of the Bioship, where she then opened a much cleaner-edged hole than what Black Adam had ripped open.

' _Out,_ ' Kaldur said suddenly over the now-established psychic link. ' _Everyone out,'_

Nobody wasted any time in arguing, and then the seven of them, plus Wolf, swam around the edge of the riverbank in order to dodge the vines.

As soon as she was out of the water, Silverbird handed her rebreather back to Robin and sucked in a deep breath, though she was careful to keep quiet lest she alerted the entire Injustice League to their location.

Then, Reese bent at the waist, pulling her hood down so it hung around her shoulders, and began to wring out her hair. Though it was styled naturally in beach waves most of the time, the dark brown strands with the metallic silver streak were almost always in a thick fishtail braid, and as such, had begun to leave Reese's hair even wavier whenever she undid it. That, and it always curled when she got it wet. And because Reese's hair was _so_ long, drying her hair was like wringing out a soaked bath towel.

Walking forward a few steps, and through the cypress trees, Silverbird was able to see the Bioship being pulled beneath the surface of the water by Poison Ivy's vines.

"She's in shock," M'gann said quietly, sounding a little bit shocked herself. "She'll need time to recover,"

Before any of _them_ were really able to recover from their impromptu dip in the bayou, the dizziness that had attacked Silverbird and Miss Martian suddenly came back full-force, though this time, it affected everybody.

As they were all thrown to the ground, Reese was able to see the royal garb of one Count Vertigo standing in front of the fallen forms of Artemis and Kid Flash, just as Wally, came up onto his hands and knees.

"Vertigo," she was able to hear the redhead say, and an idea began to take root in Reese's mind. Honestly, she wasn't even entirely sure if it would work, but it was better than nothing.

" _Count_ Vertigo to you, peasant," the man sneered, just as Reese lurched up, without a word to anyone, and met the Count's own "power" with a sonic scream of her own that hit Vertigo's waves of dizziness with a force that blew everyone back a few feet.

In the momentary lull, Conner leaped up again but was thrown through the trees by a punch from Black Adam. Again, seizing an opportunity from Count Vertigo's distraction, Aqualad used his water-bearers to bring some of the water up from the bayou's river and using it to, quite literally, wash Vertigo away.

' _Robin, Silverbird, Miss Martian_ ,' Kaldur began as Reese stopped screaming, now that Vertigo was somewhere back in the bushes. ' _Disappear. We will keep them busy. You three, fulfill the mission objective.'_

As Kaldur was punched away by Black Adam, Reese and Dick both took that as their cue to split, to slip through the tree towards where the Injustice League's headquarters was bound to be, and though she couldn't see her, Silverbird assumed Miss Martian was following them.

➸➸➸

' _That was pretty cool_ ,' Robin said softly through the psychic link after they had been walking through the bayou for a few minutes. ' _You know, what you did with your Canary Cry and Vertigo. How'd you know that would work?'_

Reese felt her face flush, and she pulled up her hood again so Dick wouldn't be able to see her face. She didn't know what it was, or rather, she wasn't ready to _admit_ what it was, that always made her blush when the Boy Wonder complimented her.

' _Wishful thinking?'_ Silverbird said finally, shrugging a bit, before turning back around. A few more minutes, and then M'gann finally spoke up.

' _I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others,'_ M'gann began. ' _Should we-'_

_'Sorry, that's not the gig,'_ Robin cut her off, before pulling back a few branches. ' _This is. The Injustice League's central control system,'_

Through the trees, Reese was able to see a massive building that almost looked like an evil version of the Hall of Justice in the center of a clearing. From the faceted roof of the building rose a massive plant, that had to be the antenna controlling the rest of the plant creatures across the globe.

Dick agreed when Reese said as much through the psychic link, but the two of them and Miss Martian were so focused on studying the building in front of them that Silverbird wasn't able to catch the sound of Poison Ivy standing behind them until it was too late.

"Well, _hello..._ " the red-haired villainess crooned, as vines erupted out of the ground, wrapping around Robin, Silverbird, and M'gann up in the span of two seconds and holding them up higher in the air.

As a vine wrapped around Reese's mouth like a gag, stopping her from screaming, her eyes widened as Ultra-Humanite jumped down to join Ivy on the ground, a menacing-looking gun held by the gorilla who used to be called Tolifhar.

"And _goodbye_..." Poison Ivy continued. But, before Humanite was able to shoot the three of them, Silverbird saw M'gann's eyes glow green, and the trajectory was abruptly changed.

As Ultra-Humanite pulled the trigger, the blast was sent through the vines holding Silverbird and her friends, rather than their heads, and the three were dropped to the ground. As soon as they were free, Dick and Reese bolted, though as they ran, Silverbird was able to hear Poison Ivy's voice from behind them.

"Sorry, Boy Wonder, Little Canary," she began, and vines began to raise out of the water again. "I'm putting an end to your little _reconnaissance mission_ ,"

Reese was really starting to hate plants.

Tree roots and vines started to join up to try and impale her and Robin, and the two even had to go so far as to slide across one of them in order to getaway. After vaulting off a pair of trees after a root destroyed the branch she'd been swinging on, Silverbird landed in the muddy bayou river water again, only to be tackled to the side by Robin a split-second before Reese would've gotten impaled against another tree trunk.

"Aren't _you_ supposed to be the one who's hyper-aware of her surroundings at all times?" Dick exclaimed aloud as they both slid across another tree root in time to dodge another flying vine.

"Well, sorry I was trying not to die!" Reese retorted as the two jumped to another root as the one they had previously been on was destroyed, turning into splinters.

Since Kaldur and the others were nowhere to be found, it looked like they were getting closer and closer to needing Plan B, and Reese _really_ didn't want to have to use it.

Silverbird suddenly felt the root she and Robin had been standing on explode, and they were both thrown through the air, landing heavily on the ground. Reese and Dick had both landed on their stomachs, and when Reese brought her head up, it was to find icky brown mud soaking the entire front of her costume. _Great._

She heard Robin cough from beside her, apparently, he had swallowed some river water (gross), just as a cluster of razor-sharp vines appeared in front of them. But, before they were able to attack, the vines exploded, and a camouflaged M'gann appeared in front of the two younger birds.

' _Silverbird, Robin,'_ Miss Martian began. ' _She's made contact,'_

_'Artemis?'_ Reese asked.

' _No,'_ M'gann answered, and Reese looked up in time to see a golden cage fly above the clearing where she, Dick, and M'gann were, the cage holding the rest of the Team, and being carried by Wotan and Black Adam, along with Count Vertigo.

The Bioship suddenly flew down from higher in the sky, hitting Wotan in the back and pausing the sorcerer's long enough that the cage disappeared completely, dropping everyone to the ground.

Then, as the others took on the Injustice League, Robin, Silverbird, and Miss Martian headed towards the massive beanstalk-like plant on top of the Injustice League's headquarters.

Reese hadn't seen Joker or Atomic Skull yet, which _was_ a bit concerning, but she had bigger things to worry about at the moment.

For example, putting some of Dick's explosive wing-dings all over the antenna-plant. By the time Poison Ivy noticed, it was too late, and the devices exploded, coating the plant in flames and making it fall apart.

As Ivy snarled at the three standing on the roof of the building, Robin crossed his arms and said a single word as the beanstalk-like plant fell around them.

"Timber,"

Ivy yelled out in rage, making more thorny vines appear from around her, but M'gann simply used her telekinesis to destroy the plants before they reached her, Robin, and Silverbird.

But, Miss Martian was suddenly knocked away by a yellow-green energy blast that made Reese and Dick duck before they were hit too. Well, looks like Joker and Atomic Skull finally decided to join the party.

" _Children_?" Joker sneered as Robin and Silverbird ran toa void another of Atomic Skull's energy beams. " _Children_ foiled our plans? Inconceivable! Unacceptable! _Retributionable!_ That last one might not be a word," the maniacal clown added after a moment. "So _sue me_!"

"Kill them!" Count Vertigo sneered as Reese helped M'gann stand. "Kill them _all_ ,"

Thus, the Team was entered into another battle, but as Robin threw some of his wing-dings, and Silverbird shot another arrow towards Wotan, the sorcerer rose up into the air.

"Enough!" he called out, the smoke around him dissipating to reveal an orange shield-like bubble encasing him.

Then, Wotan held out his hands, and seven separate bolts of lightning hit the members of the Team one by one. Even Wolf was knocked from Ultra-Humanite. When she was hit by the bolt of electricity, Silverbird flew backward, landing on her back next to Miss Martian and Aqualad.

Somehow, likely due to his Atlantean physiology and the glowing eel tattoos along his arms, Kaldur was able to sustain the lightning attacking him while staying relatively unharmed, holding up both hands and blocking Reese's and M'gann bolts as well.

"Plan B," Aqualad grunted as he struggled under the barrage of voltage coursing through his system, and Silverbird sighed heavily, brushing away the hair that was hanging in front of her eyes.

M'gann's eyes glowed green again before the camouflaged Bioship flew down from where it had been hovering in the sky above the fight. A hole opened in the bottom, and the duffel bag Wally had questioned Reese about earlier fell through.

The brunette caught it easily, and crouched down, shielded by Kaldur, who was still redirecting the lightning and unzipped the duffel, revealing the contents inside. Reese picked up the golden helmet, and the shock of seeing the ancient object was enough to stop Wotan from using the lightning anymore.

"The Helmet of Fate," he breathed out, and Wally spun around.

"No, Silverbird! Don't!" As Kid Flash was knocked away by Black Adam again, his shout had caught Robin's attention, and Dick turned, eyes wide, in time to see Reese put the Helmet on her head.

There was a flash of golden light, and in her place hovered a smaller, more feminine version of the Dr. Fate from when Kent Nelson had been Nabu's host, the only indication _at all_ that Reese had even been there in the first place was her dark hair, blowing from underneath the Helmet in a non-existent wind. And the golden arrowhead hanging on a chain that had previously been around Reese's neck now hung in full view, the object glowing a soft gold.

"Wotan!" Fate cried out, flying to hover across from Wotan in the air, the voice a weird mixture of Reese's own and Nabu's deeper undertone. "You are mine!"

Wotan shot a blast of orange energy, but Fate retaliated with a blast of gold from the amulet holding Nabu's cloak together. The gold easily overpowered the orange, and Wotan was thrown back into the roof of the Injustice's League's headquarters.

When it dissipated, Wotan was trapped in thick, golden chains.

Robin, meanwhile, was still reeling from the fact that Reese had _actually_ put on the Helmet of Fate, and was trying _really_ hard to not lose it, that he didn't notice Joker coming up behind him until the clown spoke.

" _Wonder Boy_ ," Joker began, in a poor imitation of Fate's voice. "You are mine!" Joker cackled again before swiping his two switchblades at Robin, prompting Dick to backflip away, lest he wanted to get cut up into little Grayson pieces. "Always wanted to _carve_ this bird," Joker sneered, before running forward again.

Wotan, meanwhile, managed to break free of Fate's chains, sending them flying back, but Nabu simply made a golden ankh appear in the air, and the chains disappeared into it.

"Wotan has prepared for your return, _Doctor_ ," the dark sorcerer, before shouting again, sending another bolt of orange energy flying towards Dr. Fate. Nabu relied on the golden ankh to absorb the energy like it did the chains, but when the ankh shattered, Fate was sent tumbling back.

Down on the ground, as he dodged the Joker's switchblades, Dick felt a jolt in his chest at the same time Fate was hit, and as he ducked behind a tree, Robin let out a breath.

At least that meant he and Reese were still connected. You know, _somehow._ He still wasn't entirely sure how these golden arrowheads worked. Fate recovered quickly and began to dodge the consecutive blasts that Wotan shot through the air, finally stopping to hover in the air above the dark sorcerer.

"Surrender sorcerer!" Fate shouted, the voice still a weird mixture of Reese's and Nabu's. "You cannot hope to defeat a Lord of Order!"

Fate shot another blast of golden energy towards Wotan, and the magic engulfed the dark sorcerer, but instead of being defeated, Wotan simply disappeared, reappearing behind Dr. Fate and catching the other magic user off-guard.

Though Nabu was currently inhabiting her body, and that was weird on _so_ many levels, Reese was able to feel it when Wotan shot Dr. Fate from behind, and could she just say... _ow?_

"I can defeat you, Fate!" Wotan shouted, orange balls of dark magic engulfing his hands. "And I will!"

But, before Wotan could attack again, there was a sharp cry of " _Ekirts natoW nwod!",_ and Wotan flew backward as Zatara and what looked to be the _entire_ Justice League appeared from the sky.

"Not tonight Wotan," the magician answered simply.

As Robin leaped away from another strike by Joker's switchblades, a batarang suddenly flew through the air, hitting one of the knives with a sharp ' _clang_ ' and knocking the clown's blade away.

Looking up to the sky, Dick sighed. He didn't think he had ever been as glad to see Batman as this very moment. One by one, as the powerful superheroes landed in the bayou, the members of the Injustice League were rounded up, before finally, Batman spoke.

"It's over," the Dark Knight said simply, and Count Vertigo, Poison Ivy, Ultra-Humanite, Atomic Skull, Wotan, and Black Adam all raised their hands up in surrender.

"There will be another day," Vertigo threatened calmly, before Joker, the only member of the Injustice League to _not_ have surrendered (though really, no one expected him to), let out a dry laugh.

"Another day?" he echoed loudly, fists clenched at his sides. "Another day? There won't be another day! Not for _any_ of us!"

Joker cackled maniacally again, before waving his gloved hands in the air. As he did so, multiple vines erupted from the water, the buds on them popping open, releasing noxious green-colored gas.

"Joker Venom spores!" Batman shouted suddenly. "Don't breathe!" Though he then knocked out the Joker with one punch, Bruce wasn't able to stop the spores from beginning to spread.

But, before the Joker Venom was able to infect any of the gathered heroes or villains and kill them with laughter, Silverbird, still costumed as Dr. Fate, and with the spirit of Nabu still inhabiting Reese's body, rose up above them all.

"Fear not!" she shouted, causing another glowing gold ankh to appear in the air, the symbol effectively vacuuming up the cloud of spores. "Fate has intervened!"

As soon as everyone was safe, at least for the moment, and as Dr. Fate landed lightly on the ground, Robin finally lost his temper, stalking up to Aqualad and shoving against Kaldur's chest with a force that made his leader stumble back a few steps. 

"What were you thinking?" Dick shouted, the pure desperation in his voice making even Superboy wince. "How could you let her put on the Helmet?"

"It was her decision, Robin," Aqualad answered calmly as he pulled the Boy Wonder's hands down, the Atlantean's pale green eyes only giving a hint at the pain he was really feeling. "You know as well as I do that when Silverbird puts her mind to something, no one can change it,"

"That doesn't make it any better!" he retorted. "You should have at least _tried_ to stop her!"

"Would you have rather I put on the Helmet instead?" Kaldur asked, and Dick threw his arms out to the side.

" _Yes_!" he shouted, causing Aqualad's eyes to widen the tiniest bit, his jaw clenching. 

Dick was angry, god, he was _so_ angry, but that didn't mean he wasn't being logical. In his sense of the word anyway. He _would_ have rathered Kaldur put on the Helmet of Fate instead, to be inhabited by Nabu instead if only that meant that Reese would still be _here_.

"It doesn't matter if Aqualad put on the helmet or not," Wally added as he walked slowly up to the fuming Robin and stoic Aqualad, right arm wrapped in a sling made from a shred of Vertigo's cloak. "Silverbird's still stuck in there, and Nabu will _never_ release her now. Reese will be trapped inside Dr. Fate forever,"

Thanks, Wally. Dick could've gone the rest of his life without hearing _that._

Reaching beneath the collar of his costume, Robin closed his fingers around the golden arrowhead that Silverbird had given him in August, the gift from Kent Nelson. Dick hadn't taken it off since Reese had given it to him, not once. But today...today he _did_. Robin felt the chain snap as he ripped the arrowhead from around his neck, flinging the necklace until it landed with a small splash at Dr. Fate's feet.

"Well," he began slowly, meeting the brown eyes of Reese from where they showed behind the Helmet, only these held no sparkle, no emotion, no indication that Reese was even the one wearing the Helmet of Fate at all. "Guess I won't be needing this anymore,"

➸➸➸

Meanwhile, inside the weird little pocket dimension that was the interior of the Helmet of Fate, Reese stood inside a small circle of light surrounded by shadows with Kent Nelson.

"That wasn't a very smart decision, young lady," Kent said sternly, his cane clasped between both hands. "Putting on the Helmet. I'm sure your friend told you what happened when he did it?"

Wally had. At this point, Reese wasn't sure if the redhead _still_ believed that, when _he_ had put on the Helmet of Fate, his brainwaves had been rerouted to make him believe was Dr. Fate, but he knew enough that he had explained what had happened when Klarion had been defeated.

How Nabu almost hadn't _let him go._

"Would you believe me if I said I did it partly so I could talk to you?" she asked, glancing down at her boots and feeling her face burn. Kent didn't answer, and when Reese glanced up again, it was to see the old man staring down at her, one eyebrow raised and a curious twinkle in his eye.

"How so?" Kent asked, and Reese took a deep breath before continuing. 

She reached beneath her jacket and pulled the golden arrowhead necklace out from where it had been hanging above her solar plexus, letting Kent see the ancient charm as Reese held it up to the light.

"These charms," she began slowly. "They've been acting... _weird._ Like, I don't know how to explain it," Reese knew she probably sounded as if she'd lost her mind, but Kent suddenly seemed to understand, and he gave her a small smile.

"Ah," he mused quietly, tapping the arrowhead gently with the pad of his index finger. "Before I stopped wearing the Helmet, when I first met Inza, we used these charms. Nabu, back when he was less of a wet blanket, said it helped to keep his hosts _grounded_. Helped them distinguish between what was in the ethereal plane, and what was physical. The Arrowheads of Apollo have been around for millennia, and, over time, built up their own special sort of protection," Reese raised an eyebrow and figured she must have looked a little confused because Kent chuckled a bit before continuing. "When one of you is in danger, the arrowheads will use their magic to send a jolt through the other recipient's mind," Kent explained, and Reese tilted her head to the side.

"So they're sentient?" she asked, now a little bit freaked that she and Dick had had little creatures hanging around their necks for the last month and a half, but Kent only laughed again.

"All magic is living one way or another," he explained vaguely. "The Arrowheads are just more in tune with each other. Along with building a protective shield around your respective minds. It takes a powerful telepath to break through one of those,"

Reese's head was beginning to swim, and not just because Kent was currently filling her head with more information than she had thought she'd get. What looked like a screen suddenly appeared in front of the two, and Reese's eyes widened as she saw Robin throw his own arrowhead necklace on the ground.

"That's not good," Reese heard Kent mutter before he raised his voice so she could hear him better. "Both arrowheads need to be in use at the same time, otherwise their magic will be in flux, and that's not good for anyone. I think it's time for you to go,"

"Anything else I need to know?" Reese asked, and suddenly, Kent's eyes turned both sad and serious.

"Yes," he answered. " _Never_ let these arrowheads turn to lead. If either of these turns from gold into lead, it stops the recipient from feeling any sort of happy emotion at all. It turns you numb,"

" _Okay_ ," Reese said slowly. "How do I keep that from happening?"

"You don't die," Kent said gravely, and Reese felt her jaw slacken a bit. Almost as an afterthought, Kent cupped a hand around his mouth. "Also, you're going to get a better communication system, and tell Wally I said hello!"

➸➸➸

Then, the Helmet of Fate was off her head, and Silverbird was standing back in the bayou where the Team had fought the Injustice League, face to face with Robin and Kid Flash, who both looked like they had just seen a ghost.

"Nabu let you go?" Wally breathed out, and Reese took a shaky breath, still a bit stricken from what Kent had told her just before Nabu took off the Helmet.

"Yeah," she said slowly. "I-I guess so," 

Glancing up, Silverbird met the lenses of Robin's domino mask, and she gave him a small smile, before Dick's arms were wrapped around her and he was hugging her so hard Reese was lifted a couple of inches off the ground.

"You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days, pretty bird," Dick whispered in her ear, and as Reese squeezed his shoulders, she remembered what Kent had told her.

"Lead," she said quietly, and the Boy Wonder leaned back.

"What?" he asked, and Reese sighed before answering.

"Can't let the arrows turn to lead," she began. "Means one of us is dead, or the magic's in flux-- _I don't know_ ,"

"Well, I'm not about to let _that_ happen," Dick said, smiling a bit, before tilting his head to the side. "How'd you find all this out, anyway?"

"Kent told me," Reese answered, turning her head towards Wally. "He says hi, by the way,"

Kid Flash grinned as he picked up the arrowhead necklace Robin had thrown to the ground a few minutes before, the chain magically repaired, handing it back to Dick who slipped it over his head without a word.

"We're done here," the stoic voice of Batman made Reese jump as she, Dick, and Wally turned to face him. She'd forgotten the Justice League was here. "The Supervillain Secret Society has been neutralized. As for _your_ performance--" the Dark Knight added. "It was satisfactory,"

Silverbird was pretty sure everyone let out a collective sigh of relief as they realized none of them was in trouble, but all Reese wanted to do right now was go home and sleep for the next forty-eight hours straight.

Well, _that_ , or have a sandwich, she was pretty hungry.


	21. 19. Humanity

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
October 10, 16:58 EDT**

Another day at the cave, another day of training under Black Canary.

Within the glowing circle in the center of the cave, everyone was sparring against each other as a way to showcase their own skills, while also simultaneously learning from each other as a way to see how they each could improve.

Well, _almost_ everyone.

Wally, his right arm in a cast after it had been broken during the Team's altercation with the Injustice League a few weeks ago, currently sat in an armchair outside the circle, having put Captain Marvel practically into indentured servitude.

Not that the Leaguer complained about it or anything.

"Ah," Wally sighed appreciatively after taking a sip from his pineapple juice. " _Just_ what the doctor ordered,"

"How's the arm, Wally?" Marvel asked, leaning down so he'd be able to inspect the cast.

Wally just reclined in his chair, looking completely and utterly relaxed with the whole situation, even though, since he was a speedster, and thus most likely had faster than normal healing, the cast should've come off _days_ ago.

"Nothing wrong that _nachos_ can't cure," the redhead said finally, and Captain Marvel blinked at him for a moment, before rocketing off across the cave again.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "I'll go get you some!"

Though she was half-focused on the rest of her friends training against each other, movement from the corner of her eye made Silverbird glance up wearily from where she was lying curled up against a sleeping Wolf just as Robin stopped in front of her, gently setting a thermos down between them, steam wafting from the open top.

In his other hand, Dick carried a bowl of sliced strawberries, while Zira sat around his shoulders, the baby gorilla content, for some reason, to be carried around all the time. Reese figured Dick had been spoiling her.

"Pretty bird," Robin began softly, sitting down as Silverbird only turned her head away from the thermos. "It's just chicken broth. Come on, you have to eat _something_ ,"

For the last five days, after a patrol in Star City during a thunderstorm ended with Reese contracting a nasty stomach bug, the twelve-year-old had been semi-benched from active duty.

But, in response to Dick, Reese just shook her head.

"I won't be able to stomach it," she said weakly, throat sore from the bouts of coughing she'd had to deal with for the past week. It was almost a miracle Reese had been able to keep _water_ down.

_Stupid weak immune system,_ Silverbird thought, as Robin frowned, before screwing the cap back on the thermos and moving it out of the way so he'd be able to sit closer to her.

"You still feeling lousy?" he asked softly as Reese leaned her head against his shoulder, nodding.

"I hate being sick," she whimpered. Dick didn't say anything in response, only lightly pressing his lips to the crown of Reese's head.

Today was one of the only days where Reese wore her Silverbird suit, sans her mask, but kept her hood down around her shoulders and let her hair out of its ever-present fishtail braid, letting the dark brown waves cascade down her back.

Dick would be kidding himself if he said he hadn't also noticed the faint purple rings underneath Reese's eyes. She hadn't been sleeping either. Zira, meanwhile, sat cross-legged on the stone floor in front of the two young birds, content to eat her strawberries while being almost entirely innocent to the outside world.

"Hey," Robin whispered after a few moments of silence. "If you want, I could try and get Wally to bribe Captain Marvel to get you something,"

"Fat chance, Rob," KF piped up suddenly from where he was sitting behind them, and Dick shot the speedster a glare over his shoulder. At his look, Wally quickly backtracked. "I--I mean, I'm sure Marvel's open to whatever you want, Reese. Positive,"

But, Reese only made a small-sounding ' _hmm_ ' sound in response, shaking her head as Black Canary walked into the main cave.

"Good work everyone," Dinah said as she neared the training circle. "In fact, it's been a very productive week,"

"Yeah," Artemis snarked as she, Superboy, Aqualad, and Miss Martian stopped sparring. "For everyone except _Kid Malingerer,_ "

"Hey!" Wally exclaimed, sitting up in his chair and waving his arm around. "Arm broken in combat against the _Injustice League_ here!" In response to his antics, Dinah chuckled, shaking her head before she looked up again.

"I've really enjoyed being your, uh... _den mother_ this week," the blonde heroine said lightly before her blue eyes landed on where Robin and Silverbird were still sitting next to Wolf, and she frowned.

Reese didn't get sick often, but when she did, she got hit _hard_ , and as such, essentially became very un-motivated as long as she was infected. But, it wasn't like Dinah blamed the girl. Black Canary assumed she herself would be the same way. Rather, Dinah _knew_ she'd be the same way if the way her mother talked about her as a teen was any indication.

Suddenly, the Zeta tube turned on, bringing everyone's attention over to the transport system.

**_Recognized Zatara 1-1_ **

The magician stepped calmly out of the Zeta tube, before walking over to the small control panel and tapping a few keys.

**_Access Granted: Zatanna Zatara A-0-3  
_ ** **_Authorization: Zatara 1-1_ **

The tube glowed again, before a young girl, maybe Robin's age, stepped out, dressed in some sort of school uniform and, judging from her name, was Zatara's teenage daughter.

"Zatanna," Zatara began softly, gesturing to the gathered heroes. "This is the Team. Team, my daughter, Zatanna,"

"Hi," M'gann was the first to come forward, hovering a few inches above the ground as she sent Zatanna a smile. "I'm M'gann, but you can call me Megan," then, M'gann gestured to the others, respectively. "That's Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Conner, Robin, and Reese,"

"Welcome to the cave," Kaldur told her, and Zatanna glanced to the side.

"Uh, thanks," she said softly, just as Reese sneezed, giving Zatanna a small wave, to which the other girl just smiled. 

To say Reese felt like complete and utter crap would be an understatement. She'd already been sick for a week, and frankly, it didn't look like it was letting up anytime soon. _Great_.

"Are you joining the Team?" she asked hoarsely, wondering why exactly it was that Zatara had brought his daughter here in the first place, but, in response, the older magician hurriedly stepped forward.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Zatara said simply, taking his hat off and holding it in his hands. "This is strictly a visit. Though I _am_ sorry we missed the training," he turned towards Black Canary. "It's something from which Zatanna could benefit,"

' _Do the rest of you get the impression we're still on probation with Zatara?'_ M'gann asked suddenly over a psychic link, and subconsciously, Reese winced, bringing her fingers to her temple and rubbing it to try and get rid of the resulting headache.

Robin noticed, because of course he did, and glanced over towards the Team's resident Martian.

' _Hey, Miss M,_ ' he began. ' _You mind taking Reese out? I think the mental link's messing with her head,_ '

' _I'm fine, Boy Wonder,_' Reese said, sending Dick a short glare, though he didn't seem affected. Rather, he only got more determined.

' _No you're not, pretty bird,_ ' he retorted firmly. ' _You're sick, and I highly doubt having the thoughts of six different people bouncing around inside your head are going to help,_ '

' _We'll tell you what we talk about,'_ M'gann said gently, and Reese huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, too proud to admit that Dick was right. She hated when he was right.

' _Fine,_ ' Reese snapped finally. ' _Take me out_ ,' M'gann's expression didn't change, but it was like a wall suddenly appeared in Reese's mind, and she wasn't able to hear what the others were "saying", so to speak, anymore.

' _You really have a way with girls, don't you, Rob?'_ Wally asked next, grinning, and Robin glared at him.

' _Shut up, Wally,_ ' Dick hissed, and KF quickly held up his hands in surrender, as M'gann glanced between the two boys, looking a bit put-out.

' _Okay_ ,' she began slowly. ' _Zatara's still looming over us, we established that much,'_

_'Not just Zatara,'_ Superboy added, all of them noticing that Reese, on the outside, was looking fairly ticked off, and had begun tapping the toe of her boot against the stone floor. She hated not being part of something that sort of involved her as well. ' _I mean, why is Marvel still hanging around?'_

_'Because--'_ Wally began. ' _We like having him around,'_

_' You like having him around_,' Artemis corrected, sending KF a look. ' _Because he waits on you hand and foot,_ '

' _And your point is?'_ Wally asked, just as Kaldur cut in if only to stop the two from bickering with each other again.

' _It almost makes one nostalgic for Red Tornado's tenure as our supervisor. At least he trusted us,_ '

' _If you ignore the fact that RT's siblings nearly got Reese, M'gann, and all of us, killed,' _Robin snapped, crossing his arms as Zatanna tilted her head to the side, before walking in between Conner and M'gann to stand in the center of their little group.

"Are you guys having a psychic conversation?" the new girl asked, making everyone, including Zatara and Dinah, to glance over. " 'cause I can't decide if that's cool, or, uh, really rude?"

"Alright, _fine_ ," Conner snapped, turning around so he'd be able to face Black Canary and Zatara head-on. "We were talking about Tornado. It's been _weeks_ since his attack, and the League hasn't told us _anything,_ "

"The League," Dinah began. "Is searching for Tornado, as well as the other androids that invaded the cave and their creator, T.O. Morrow. Batman's made tracking them down our _highest_ priority,"

"But what've you found?" Reese asked, stepping forward.

"None of the above!" Robin added, and Black Canary frowned.

"Not _yet_ ," Dinah corrected firmly, walking forward. "But, Tornado is _Justice League_. The Team is _not_ to pursue this,"

"Why don't you take Zatanna on a, uh, tour of the cave?" Zatara trailed off in his subject change as they all realized that the man's daughter was no longer standing with them. But, then Reese turned around, and she found the black-haired girl sitting next to Wolf and Zira, with Zatanna giving the baby gorilla slices of strawberries.

"You're giving a tour!" Captain Marvel exclaimed, only now returning to the main cave with Wally's plate of nachos. "Cool!"

"Actually," Conner cut in, walking up next to the older hero. "I was hoping you'd take Wolf outside. He needs the exercise. We'll join you in a few," Reese had to admit, the genomorph was a good liar.

"Yeah," the brunette agreed as she picked up Zira, the gorilla hanging off her like a koala. "Could you take Zira out too? She hasn't been outside much since we brought her from Bwunda, and she could use the sunshine,"

"Isn't it supposed to rain today?" Dick hissed under his breath, and Reese quickly shushed him, while also simultaneously digging her elbow into his ribs. Robin shut up quickly.

"Sure," Captain Marvel agreed, nodding eagerly as he allowed Zira to clamber onto his head. "Sure, I can do that. Come on Zira, Wolf!" With that, Marvel ran down the hallway, with the enhanced canine on his heels and baby gorilla sitting on his shoulders, while also still carrying the plate of Wally's nachos.

A plate that, when Wally saw it flying away, seemed to cause the destruction of the speedster's whole world.

"B-But, my _nachos_ ," the redhead whined, before Reese flung a hand out, grabbed the speedster's collar, and started dragging him behind her.

When the seven of them, plus Zatanna, walked into Mount Justice's kitchen, Reese's eyes landed on the new girl, when suddenly she realized that Zatanna wasn't in the clothes she had arrived in, but rather a lavender-colored tank top and white pants.

For a moment, Reese just blinked, wondering if she had been hallucinating the outfit from earlier but, judging from Robin's reaction, she hadn't.

"When did you--" Dick stuttered out, obviously also confused as to why Zatanna was in a different outfit than earlier, when there hadn't really been any sort of timeframe in which she could have changed. " _How_ did you--?"

But, Zatanna didn't answer, and instead, she just slowed down a bit, finally stopping at the intersection of hallways in front of the common room before she spoke.

"We're not really taking a tour, are we?" she asked, prompting Conner and Kaldur, who were walking in front of everybody else, to turn around and look at Zatanna.

"No," Superboy said firmly. "We're hunting down that robot," Then, Conner glanced towards Aqualad, who only gave a solid nod.

"Yes," Kaldur added. "We are,"

"Oh, wow," Zatanna mused. "Out loud and everything,"

"What about ' _new girl'_?" Artemis asked, glancing towards Silverbird and Robin, the former of which just shrugged, stifling a yawn as she did so.

"I'm sure she won't tell anyone," Reese spoke up, waving a hand, and Zatanna sent her a smile.

"I can't tell anyone," the other girl added. "Not if you _kidnap_ me,"

For a moment, everyone was a little bit stunned at the fact that Zatanna _actually_ wanted to come along with them, before finally, Artemis grinned and put her hands on her hips.

"Oh, she's gonna fit in great," the blonde archer said, and Zatanna smiled before the Team began to make their way towards the Bioship again.

But, before she could fully pass the kitchen, Reese hung a sharp right, turning down a hallway towards the room she used whenever she had to stay over at Mount Justice for whatever reason.

The door slid open as she stopped in front of it, and Reese walked through to the adjoining bathroom. Sure, there were the locker room showers beside the training room, but Reese had always been one of those people who was content to have her own space, one that was open only to her. Hence, she had her own bathroom.

Swiftly taking the small package of anti-stomach bug pills Oliver had gotten for her a few days ago after he had decided that a trip to the doctor's office was needed, Reese shut the medicine cabinet that hung above her sink.

Another thing Reese hated: _hospitals_. For one thing, the nurses there were _way_ too perky to be considered welcoming, and it was also where some people went to die. And Reese had seen too much death in her life for her to classify the hospital as an optimal place to spend her free time.

But, despite it all, the medicine _had_ been working, slowly, mind you, but it was still working. The side-effects were a bit less-than-ideal, she always got drowsy after taking a dose, but it usually dissipated after a few hours, so that was something, Reese supposed.

Sticking the packet of pills in her pocket, the brunette turned around, opting to grab a water bottle from the kitchen before she joined the rest of the Team, only to find Robin standing just outside the bathroom door.

Dick's presence in her room startled Reese so much she jumped. 

Another side-effect of the medicine was that her senses got a bit dulled down. They were still more powerful (?) than a regular person's, but nowhere near the strength they normally were. Normally, she would've been able to hear Robin coming long before he entered her room. Today, not so much. This was also why, as she got startled, Reese's hand flew out, purely on reflex, and pushed Dick back a few feet, making the Boy Wonder stumble.

"Sorry," he said quietly, lightly rubbing the spot on his chest where Silverbird had shoved him. "Didn't mean to scare you, pretty bird,"

"You didn't," Reese answered simply, though that statement was up for debate. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Was wondering where you were," Dick answered, as the two of them entered the hallway outside Reese's room to head towards the Bioship again. "Got maybe ten feet down the hallway before I realized you weren't walking with us. So, I came to look for you, make sure you're okay,"

"Oh," Reese said quietly, feeling her face flush, though whether or not it was because of a fever, she wasn't entirely sure. "...Thanks," Dick sent her a smile as they neared the hangar, but just before they entered, Robin grabbed her hand, causing Silverbird to send him a glance.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay?" he asked, and despite the sweetness of it all, Reese huffed out a breath, simultaneously blowing a strand of dark-brown hair away from her face.

"I'm _fine_ ," Silverbird repeated her words from earlier before Reese noticed that Artemis was standing on the lowered ramp up to the Bioship, looking towards her and Robin and looking a little bit ticked off. "We should go. You want to find Red Tornado, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, of course, I do," Dick began, looking a bit confused at her abrupt subject change. "But, Reese--"

"When I say I'm fine," she cut in. "That _means_ I'm fine. So, please, stop hovering,"

It wasn't often that Reese lost her temper with Dick, but when she did, it was mostly when he did something that put _his_ life in mortal danger, or when he was hovering around _her_ with the same mindset as a worried mother hen.

And she appreciated it, most of the time. But, other times, like right now, for instance, Reese got fed up with it and ended up snapping at Dick for worrying about her. If it made anyone feel better, she always felt like a complete jerk afterward.

➳➳➳

Before long, they were all in the Bioship, and M'gann was piloting the camouflaged Martian ship across the cloudy Happy Harbor sky. If Reese knew anything about the weather, and she knew her meteorology, it was bound to rain today in Rhode Island, sooner or later.

Before they got very far though, Black Canary's voice came through all of their commlinks, and for all of three seconds, Silverbird thought they were completely busted.

" _M'gann_ ," Dinah began, sounding bemused. " _The Bioship was not authorized for departure,_ "

"We're kidnapping Zatanna!" Miss M exclaimed, only to receive a mental elbow to the ribs. "To...show her Happy Harbor! Be back soon!"

" _Roger that_ ," Black Canary answered, and Reese let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. " _Have fun_ ," After the communication was ended, Silverbird twisted around in her seat to send M'gann a look that was equal parts amused and relieved.

"Nice save," she said, and M'gann sent her a look that Reese could only interpret as one that made her think it was some sort of Martian tease. A few minutes later, and Wally lost his patience. Though, whether or not he had any, to begin with, Reese wasn't entirely sure.

" _Where_ are we going?" the speedster asked, and Robin glanced over his shoulder from where Dick had been inspecting his wing-dings.

"Batman is the World's Greatest Detective," Dick began. "And he's searched for Tornado and Morrow in every _logical_ location. If we're gonna do better, we need an illogical solution,"

"What we _need_ ," Reese added, turning around again so she was able to face Wally. "Is a truly _dumb_ idea," As everyone turned to look at Kid Flash expectantly, Wally blinked for a few seconds, before he grinned.

"As a matter of fact..."

**B E L L E R E V E  
** **October 10, 18:35 CDT**

Frankly, Reese didn't think she'd be back inside Belle Reve so soon. But, hey, at least this time she wasn't here as a prisoner. She counted that as a vast improvement.

"Warden Strange owed us a favor for stopping last month's prison break," M'gann began as she, Silverbird, and Superboy stood in front of a metal table, an elderly man with red hair across from them. "He's given us five minutes with _you_ ,"

"Spill, Ivo!" Conner snapped. "How do we find T.O. Morrow and his Reds?" But, Professor Ivo didn't crack. Instead, he seemed to be almost _bored_ with the whole situation.

"Now," the inventor began. "Why in the world would _I_ know how to find Morrow?"

"Because, and here's a dumb idea" Reese added, placing her hands on her hips and staring at Ivo. He knew where Morrow was hiding, now all they had to do was get it out of him. " _You're_ Morrow's biggest competitor in the game of developing evil and murderous androids. Who better to know where he's hiding than the man who created those MONQIs that targeted AMAZO?"

"Ah," Ivo said calmly, clasping his hands together over the table. "I see your point. So let me rephrase. Why in the world would I _tell_ you how to find Morrow?"

"He knows," Aqualad said simply as he walked up to stand behind the three trying to interrogate Professor Ivo, before turning to M'gann. "Do what you must," Miss Martian's eyes began to glow green, but in response, Ivo only laughed, his cackle grating on Silverbird's nerves like claws scraping across a chalkboard.

"Please," Ivo continued to laugh. "As if I've never faced a _telepath_ before,"

But, before he could say anything else, Zatanna suddenly shot forward and spoke in the same sort of backward English her father had used when he located the Injustice League's secret headquarters.

"Trulb tou S'worrom eurt noitacol!" with the young magician's words, Ivo's face turned blank, and he stared straight ahead, speaking in a sort of monotone Reese usually associated with robots.

"Morrow's in a secret underground base underneath Yellowstone National Park, one hundred meters south of Old Faithful," As soon as Ivo's admission left his mouth, the old inventor's eyes cleared again, and he looked shocked, surprised that he had been coerced into speaking what he knew the way he did.

Frankly, Reese was surprised as well, and she wasn't the only one. None of them, the Team, that is, had seen Zatanna in action so far, but Silverbird was _immensely_ glad that Zatara's daughter had decided to be "kidnapped" today.

"Wait!" Ivo exclaimed, clapping his hands over his mouth, just in case he admitted something else he didn't want being known. "What just happened?"

Their five minutes of interrogating Ivo spent, Warden Strange, the same Hugo Strange who had acted as the prison psychiatrist in September, came to fetch Ivo and bring him back to his cell. Then, with their first solid lead to the whereabouts of T.O. Morrow, and in turn Red Tornado, the Team started to make their way back out of the prison.

As they crossed an upper walkway, Silverbird slowed so she was walking beside Zatanna, giving the new girl a small smile, though she was able to feel the medicine from earlier finally taking effect, and Reese began to feel a bit drowsy. 

But, hey, at least she wasn't feeling so nauseous anymore.

"That was pretty cool," she said, swallowing down a yawn at the last moment. "Have you ever done anything like that with someone before?"

"The spell?" Zatanna asked, and Reese nodded, prompting the black-haired girl to shake her head. "Not particularly," she answered. "I'm just glad it worked,"

"I believe we all are," Kaldur added from he stood just in front of Reese and Zatanna, Aqualad also sending a smile to their newest friend.

Suddenly, Reese noticed what section of the prison they were in, and she turned to Kaldur, wondering whether or not he would grant her request. They _were_ on a time limit, after all, needing to leave before the Justice League was alerted to their impromptu "mission".

"Hey, Aqualad?" she asked quickly, causing Kaldur to glance at her. "Think you could give me a few minutes? I promise I'll be quick, I just need to check on someone," Though he looked a bit confused at her question, Aqualad nodded after a moment, and Reese smiled before she turned around and darted back the way they had come.

But, instead of re-entering the interrogation room where the Team had been with Professor Ivo a few minutes before, Silverbird turned left, walking along a corridor that had inmate cells on one side, with the open courtyard on the other.

Reese avoided looking over the edge.

Finally, she stopped in front of a particular cell door and was, in turn, a bit perturbed to find out that she wasn't even tall enough to see through the barred window.

"Dang it," Silverbird muttered out loud, before throwing her foot out and kicking the solid metal door, which in turn made her entire foot ache. _Ow_. But, it _did_ catch the attention of the occupant inside the cell, and when Clara Robinson's pale face appeared within the barred window, which Reese _was_ able to see through when she leaned against the guardrail, the brunette found herself smiling.

"Hi," Reese said quietly, and Clara smiled herself, the expression making her face that little more animated, a reprieve that Reese supposed was welcomed when spending all of your days in a six-by-eight cell, with your only contact to the outside world written letters.

"It's been a while since I've seen you," Clara began. "Though, I don't think Tamara Terror would share the same sentiment when I say it's a pleasure to see you Silverbird,"

"Yeah," Reese said quietly, giving a small laugh as she recalled the look on the youngest Terror Triplet's face when she had been arrested in New Orleans, along with her siblings, which in turn provided Reese, M'gann, and Conner with the cover they needed in order to infiltrate Belle Reve. "I don't think so either,"

"Sweetheart, you look exhausted. Have you been getting _any_ sleep?" Clara's voice made Reese glance upward again, to see the red-haired former hero staring at her with a soft expression on her face, an expression Reese had only seen before on Dinah or her own mother.

Before she died, that is.

"I, uh, I _guess_ I haven't been sleeping well," Silverbird admitted, stifling a yawn and wrapping her arms around herself. 

Insomnia was something she was privy to, unfortunately, and as such, not getting any sleep always affected her ability to think fast while in the field, thus endangering herself and her teammates.

But, it wasn't as if Reese was able to _control_ when she'd get nightmares. 

Every couple of months, she'd get memories of the night her biological parents and baby sister had died, the split-second before Green Arrow had first saved her when she was falling through the air, and the shock would always jolt her awake mere moments before she would hit the ground.

It didn't help matters that, now that she _finally_ knew who had killed her family, Mark Desmond had mutated into that hideous Blockbuster creature, whom Reese _knew_ was locked in Belle Reve as well, but that didn't make it any better.

It was just...she didn't _know_ what it was, but between the nightmares, and getting sick a week ago, it was like Reese's body was trying to shut everything out, and then shut down.

"Have you talked to anybody about this?" Clara asked, pursing her lips when Silverbird shook her head. The former hero Candlewick was a mother, she knew the signs when a child wasn't sleeping, when they weren't _able_ to sleep.

But, if the young brunette in front of Clara wasn't willing to open up to the people who cared about her, the situation would only get worse, and she might even end up getting hurt.

The red-haired woman opened her mouth to say exactly that, but before she could speak, someone rounded the corner onto the walkway where Silverbird was leaning against the guardrail, and this newcomer was someone else that Clara recognized in passing.

The Batman's young protege. The Boy Wonder, also known as Robin.

Briefly, Clara wondered what both young heroes were doing in the prison, knowing it _had_ to be for a reason, but simultaneously decided it wasn't her business to pry, and retreated back into her cell as Robin skidded to a stop in front of Silverbird, looking a bit winded.

"I'm not hovering," was the first thing out of Dick's mouth as he caught his breath, not noticing the way Reese suddenly looked like a skittish deer trapped in headlights. "But, Aqualad said I needed to come and find _you_ since it was time to go and find _Morrow_ ,"

"T.O. Morrow?" Reese's head snapped towards the cell door both birds were standing in front of as an unfamiliar woman (to Dick anyway) stepped up to the small barred window, her pale face now holding an expression that almost seemed full of fear. " _That's_ who you're going after?"

Robin hooked his thumb towards the woman and glanced towards Silverbird, mentally asking Reese _who the heck this was_ , but the brunette only waved her hand and shook her head, signaling that she would tell him later as she turned towards the woman in the jail cell.

"We'll be fine," she said, and Dick decided he officially hated that word. _Fine_. Whenever someone said it, 99% of the time they didn't mean it. If anything, the word always meant the _opposite_ of its definition.

The woman in the cell still looked a bit apprehensive, but Robin didn't really have time to worry about it, because Aqualad really _was_ waiting for him to come back to the Bioship with Silverbird, and they really _did_ need to get going to find Red Tornado before the League found out.

Batman was going to have his head because they left Mount Justice without warning either way, and Dick _really_ didn't want to make it worse.

"You're right, Robin," Reese's voice made Dick glance up in time to see the brunette staring at him with an expression on her face of pure determination, an expression that also made Robin quirk an eyebrow. "We should get going,"

"Be careful," the woman in the jail cell said, and Robin _still_ didn't know who she was, but before he could ask, Silverbird had already turned around, and was walking back to the entrance of Belle Reve, where the Bioship, and the others, were waiting.

After a few seconds, Dick followed. 

He knew Reese had been acting odd for the past couple of days, and he knew part of it was because she was sick, but the other part, the part that was keeping her from getting a good night's sleep, he didn't know what that was.

And he didn't know how to help.

➳➳➳

Several minutes passed in silence within the Bioship before Aqualad spoke up.

"Lockout all external communications," Kaldur said firmly, turning his chair around so he'd be able to face everybody. "Soon, Canary and Zatara, Batman too, I imagine, will know of our... _visit_ with Professor Ivo. We haven't much time,"

Everyone complied before Wally shifted in his chair so he was more able to look at Zatanna. "Look," the speedster began. "I've been remarkably patient and nonchalant here. You know, for _me._ But--"

"Why?" Zatanna cut Wally off, but her voice wasn't unkind. "I think everyone should be as chalant as they like,"

For a moment, all KF did was blink, before his mouth dropped open. "Oh my God," he whispered, before leaning forward. "Rob, she's just like you!"

But after several seconds had passed without the Boy Wonder saying anything, Wally tilted his head, before poking his head around the back of Robin's chair, only to be met with a sight he _really_ hadn't expected.

Both of them, Dick and Reese, that is, looked to be asleep, curled up against each other like a pair of kittens, though Wally didn't think he would've ever compared Robin to a cat.

Reese wasn't wearing her mask, she'd hardly been wearing it all day, and her face was the epitome of peacefulness at the moment, so Wally _knew_ she was asleep. Dick, as usual, _did_ have his mask on, but his eyes were closed, and his breathing was deep, so the red-haired speedster was willing to bet he was sleeping as well.

He was _never_ going to let Robin live this down. _Ever_.

KF opened his mouth to say something but was abruptly cut off by Aqualad.

"Do not wake them," Kaldur said firmly, sending Wally a look that made the speedster clamp his mouth shut. "I believe both Reese _and_ Robin can use the sleep. We'll brief them when we get to Yellowstone,"

As much as he was disheartened at the thought of a lost teasing opportunity, Wally couldn't find it in himself to argue with Kal's logic, so he gave a small nod, settling back in his chair as Artemis turned to Zatanna.

"What Kid Idiot _meant_ earlier," the blonde began, ignoring the sharp glare that Wally sent her way and lowering her voice so it was quiet enough not to wake Robin and Silverbird. "Is that we're all just trying to get a handle on your powers. Could you teleport us to Tornado? Or Morrow to a cell? Or force his bots to surrender?"

"Or create peace on Earth for all time?" Zatanna added, tilting her head to the side. " _Zatara_ couldn't even do that, and I am nowhere _near_ on my Dad's level. I need to know a spell cold," she continued. "Or else have time to prep it. Plus, all magic requires energy, and that usually has to come from within. I just can't make the impossible happen at will,"

"What's our ETA to Yellowstone?" Superboy suddenly snapped, making all of the awake heroes look over at him. From her spot across the Bioship, Reese shifted, but she settled again a moment later. "I'm _way_ past ready to stuff Tornado into a trash compactor,"

"Are you so certain he betrayed us?" Aqualad asked calmly, and Conner twisted around.

"Aren't _you_?" he retorted, but Kaldur only glanced away.

"I am not convinced," the Atlantean admitted, before turning to look at Superboy again. "And even so, that makes him but the _victim_ of his creator's programming. Certainly, he deserves a chance to prove he is more than the _weapon_ others designed him to be,"

To that, it seemed, Superboy didn't have an argument.

**Y E L L O W S T O N E N A T I O N A L P A R K  
** **October 10, 20:22 MDT**

Reese couldn't believe she had slept all the way from Belle Reve. And on Dick, no less. God, that was so embarrassing.

But, it was the best two hours of sleep she had gotten in the past week, so she supposed that was an improvement. And she hadn't had any nightmares. _And_ she actually felt more refreshed than she had in a while.

Refreshed enough that Silverbird convinced both Robin and Aqualad not to make her stay behind on the Bioship while the rest of them went to find Red Tornado.

Reese counted that as a win.

"Stealth mode," Kaldur spoke up, before pressing the stylized 'A' symbol on his waist, letting the stealth tech embedded in his suit to take over, turning Aqualad's once red-and-blue suit to dark gray.

Though her suit didn't have any stealth tech on its own, and this meant she didn't have to go "stealth mode", Reese's hair was still hanging down her back, and not wanting it to get in her face during the mission, the twelve-year-old deftly started to weave the brown and silver strands together, braiding it into a simple plait that hung over her right shoulder.

As soon as they were all ready, more or less, Silverbird walked to the entrance of the Bioship just as Zatanna opened the ramp as if she were leaving too, which was odd because Reese hadn't known that the young magician was coming _with_ them to confront T.O. Morrow.

Not that she was complaining, it'd be great to have the girl on their side, she just...hadn't expected it (?). Kaldur, it seemed, shared the same thoughts, though he voiced them differently. By telling Zatanna to stay on the Bioship.

"I recommend you stay behind," Aqualad began, and Zatanna gave a small smirk.

"Is that an order?" she retorted, and Kaldur shook his head as Reese laughed behind her hand.

"No," Aqualad answered after a moment, sending Zatanna a smile. "You must do as you see fit,"

"Good," Zatanna answered, before waving her arms around and speaking another spell. "Emit ot yrt tuo eht wen kool!" With a flash of light and smoke, the purple and white ensemble Zatanna had been wearing earlier was gone, replaced with a more feminine version of Zatara's own attire.

"I wish I could do that," Silverbird murmured as the rest of the Team joined her, Zatanna, and Aqualad at the ramp, before the eight of them started to make their way through the trees, using Robin's wrist holo-computer as a GPS to find the coordinates where Ivo had said T.O. Morrow's secret base would be.

Finally, Dick stopped, ducking behind a tree on the edge of an expanse of open rocky hills, Reese and Kaldur both crouching behind his shoulder.

"Ivo was right," Robin spoke up after studying his holo-computer for a moment. "Something's down there,"

Aqualad was the first to run forward onto the expanse of rock, the others following soon after. But, none of them got very far before, on all sides, a strong wind began to blow, and Silverbird was suddenly _really_ glad she had tied her hair up before leaving the Bioship.

As it were, the wind was so strong, it quite literally blew all of them backward, and when Reese hit the ground, she slammed into the rock and saw stars. When her vision cleared a few seconds later, Silverbird glanced up, and her eyes widened as she saw Red Tornado hovering in front of them, his legs obscured by a whirling red cyclone.

The android waved his arms, and more than half a dozen more red whirlwinds surrounded the Team on all sides, effectively herding them so they were cornered, with absolutely no means of escape.

"Tornado!" Reese shouted, letting her voice carry over the wind so it would be able to reach the android's ears. "Why are you doing this?"

But, Red Tornado didn't answer, only allowing more of his tornadoes to make even bigger explosions of stone and sand erupt from the ground. When Silverbird saw though, what the real purpose of those cyclones were, she glanced towards M'gann, hoping a mental link was already in place.

' _Message received?'_ she asked, and Miss Martian gave a solid nod before relaying the same thing to Aqualad and Superboy, Conner giving an almost imperceptible nod himself before he turned back to Red Tornado.

"Who cares why?" the genomorph shouted out loud. "Nail him!" With that, both Conner and Kaldur ran forward, Aqualad sprinting across the ground and giving a shout of his own.

"Superboy!" Kaldur called. "Maneuver seven!" Conner spun around smoothly and made a cup with his hands, Aqualad using it as a vault to leap up into the air. 

Kaldur prepared to punch Red Tornado, but before he could, Tornado retaliated himself, socking the Atlantean squarely in the face and throwing Aqualad back to the ground, where he slammed into Superboy, both of them flying back.

Then, Silverbird ran forward with Robin, with Reese shooting two explosive arrows towards Tornado. But, instead of deterring him, the android only sucked the arrows into the cyclone surrounding the bottom half of his body, before spitting them back out a second later, and sending them flying back towards Reese and Dick.

"Get down!" Robin shouted, tackling Silverbird to the ground just as her arrows exploded. As it were, the resulting shockwave threw both of them back and seeming unconscious.

The keyword in that statement being _seeming_ , because the whole point of this game was playing possum.

So, Silverbird lay as still as she could, controlling her breathing as if she were asleep, and trying to not make it seem too obvious that she _wasn't_ actually dead.

But, even when Zatanna was thrown down on Reese's other side, and when it _actually_ looked like they might get out of this whole thing alive, there was a rumbling sound, and a new voice joined the conversation, one deeper than Red Tornado's had been.

"Quite a performance, _brother_ ," the new voice said, and Silverbird cracked one eye open to see another android, one similar in build to Tornado, but slightly different, rising up behind the Leaguer on a square-shaped column of solid rock.

This android was bulkier than Red Tornado and was colored a darker red, with scarlet-colored cracks crisscrossing his frame, an extra detail that reminded Reese of molten rock.

"But we both know that's _all_ it was," the new android uttered, and Reese felt her heart drop to her stomach as Dick twitched beside her. This was _not_ turning out how they'd meant. "I have all your memories, Tornado," the other android added. "Plus, a next-gen processor. I know your next move before you do,"

With another rumble from the area around them, the new android tore up the section of rock where Red Tornado had written his message, the words _PLAY DEAD_ in massive block letters splayed across it.

"Blowing a message into the sand?" the other android asked, sounding almost disappointed in his ' _brother's_ ' actions. "Pathetic,"

Then, after thin red rings appeared around each of the android's hands, the massive piece of rock exploded, sending massive boulders flying towards the members of the Team, the intent on squishing them perfectly clear.

Superboy, Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Silverbird leaped into action immediately, the former three using their various abilities to punch, slice, and telekinetically throw away the boulders as Reese used a Canary Cry to blow even more of the boulders into dust.

But, her sonic scream was abruptly cut off as a boulder that she'd missed crashed to the ground between her and Robin, separating them and throwing Silverbird to the ground on her hands and knees, where she crouched there for a moment, dazed.

' _Reese?'_ the brunette heard Dick's voice through the mental link, and it managed to clear her head enough that she was able to wearily climb to her feet. ' _You okay?'_ The dust from the boulder began to fade, enough for Silverbird to see through it to where Robin stood, a few yards away, looking a little bit freaked.

' _I'm good,_ ' she answered, sending Dick a smile, one that he thankfully returned, just as Silverbird turned to where Red Tornado was flying away. ' _But, Tornado's getting away!'_

_'Is he abandoning us?' _Artemis shouted as she ran across the ground, but this time, M'gann was the one who answered, from where she was flying above their heads.

' _I don't believe that,_ ' the Martian said, but Reese had bigger things to worry about at the moment, as Kid Flash sped across the ground to run vertically up the column towards the terrakinetic android.

But, it didn't go the way Wally expected. As the speedster reached the top of the column, the android almost seemed to stare down at him derisively.

"You have no chance against me, _humans_ ," the android said simply, before flinging an arm out and knocking Wally back off the column. But, what it _did_ do was provide a useful distraction for Superboy and Miss Martian to come in, trying to catch the android off-guard.

"We're not human!" the two shouted in unison, but the android wasn't deterred.

"Apologies," he said, sounding vaguely sarcastic, raising his hands into the air again, and Silverbird's eyes widened again as two massive hands made completely of rock appeared out of the ground, rising higher into the air. "I believe the properly inclusive term is _meatbags_ ,"

The android slammed his hands together, and the two stone hands slammed Conner and M'gann between them. The terrakinetic then waved his hand through the air again, and a massive crevasse appeared in the ground as Aqualad and Artemis crossed over it, making Kaldur and the blonde archer fall through, though luckily they were able to pull themselves out before the walls of the ravine slammed together, causing the rock to rise up in sharp spikes above the surface of the ground.

Robin used the spikes as a sort of gymnastics vault, leaping off the edge of one spike and throwing a birdarang straight at the android. But, the android didn't even look away as his hand shot and grabbed the birdarang just as it exploded, thus keeping it from doing any permanent damage.

"Tornado's memory files and my superior processing speed allow me to anticipate your every move!" the android said as he turned towards where Dick had thrown the birdarang, as the Boy Wonder landed beside Silverbird again.

But, the Team did, in fact, have a secret weapon on their side.

"Ekoms emoceb a dlofdnilb!" 

As soon as Zatanna finished shouting the spell, the residual smoke from Robin's exploded birdarang compacted into a makeshift blindfold around the android eyes, thus stopping him from seeing what moves the young heroes were about to make.

"Tornado never knew my moves!" the magician exclaimed, just as Wally ran past her.

"I bet you've got some good ones!" the speedster exclaimed, and Reese shot him a glare as she shot another arrow towards the android, though it was swept aside without a second thought.

"Wally!" she shouted. "Stop flirting with the new girl!" From where she stood a few feet away, Zatanna glanced at Silverbird, looking equal parts confused and intrigued.

"Is he always like this?" she asked, and this time, Robin was the one who shook his head.

"No," Dick answered honestly. "Sometimes he's worse,"

Suddenly, the android's eyes glowed a bright fire-red, before twin lasers appeared out of them, destroying Zatanna's blindfold and rocketing up into the sky, just as the mountain behind him exploded, sending a geyser of lava and solid rock up into the air.

' _Uh oh_ ,' Reese muttered through the psychic link, as lava began to flow down the side of the mountain towards them, seemingly making the android stronger. ' _That can't be good_ ,'

' _It's not,_ ' Wally added as he skidded to a stop on the ground. ' _He's activated a Stage Two eruption. It gets to Stage Three, we can kiss the hemisphere goodbye,_ '

' _So I was right,_ ' Silverbird said, lips turning down into a frown. ' _Definitely not good,_'

' _Hit him from all sides,_ ' Aqualad spoke up, shifting his water-bearers into swords as he leaped into the air.

But, and Reese was almost expecting it at this point, Kaldur was slammed to the side with a boulder, and when Superboy tried to intervene, his punch was stopped simply with the android's hand, eliciting a shockwave that erupted through the air.

After M'gann was discovered, camouflaged, and then made to reappear after the android made another crevasse, this one acting as a superheated vent, Silverbird sent a nod to Zatanna and Kid Flash.

Wally crouched in front of Zatanna, goggles over his eyes, as the young magician began to say another spell.

"Ekoms dna srorrim...Etaerc Dik Hsalf snoisulli!" with that, multiple columns of smoke turned into doppelgangers of Kid Flash, all of the doubles running forward to confront the android currently holding M'gann hostage, following the lead of the _real_ Kid Flash.

"How'd you do that?" Silverbird asked, and Zatanna glanced over at her with a smile.

"I use a scaled-down version when I want to sneak out of the house!" the magician explained, and that was the moment when Reese decided that Zatanna's powers were the absolute _coolest_ thing she had ever seen.

And she had been to the _Watchtower_. Which, coincidentally, also looked like a clothing iron.

But, Reese was getting off-track.

While the android levitated multiple boulders and threw them towards the pack of Wally(s) heading his way, he managed to hit the real KF exactly zero times, because Kid Flash's strategy in this situation was to go the long way around the android, coming at him from the side and swiping M'gann, quite literally, from right under the android's nose.

It was a strategy that, luckily, _worked_.

Miss Martian was still a little bit woozy from the heat, but she'd be okay, and Silverbird prepared herself to rush at the android again, to do what, Reese hadn't gotten that far when suddenly the ground beneath her feet rumbled, and the brunette would've fallen, had Robin not shot forward at the last moment and caught her.

Then, a wave of water erupted from the ground behind Aqualad, surging forward and pushing the terrakinetic android back with the force of a literal tidal wave, knocking him back into the gathered lava, a hissing noise echoing through the air.

"Nice hit," Dick called over his shoulder to Kaldur, but Aqualad just shook his head.

"The hit was not mine," the Atlantean answered. "Look!" 

Silverbird glanced up to see that one of the androids who had attacked the cave back in September, the one who could control water, had been the one to send the wave towards his "brother", and not Kaldur.

The android then used the water as a sort of cape, carrying himself into the air and sending more thick ropes of water towards the other android, slamming into him and sending him back into the lava.

Then, Red Tornado flew in, slamming into the column the android was laying on and smashing it to bits, dropping him into the lava again.

Silverbird was now 99% sure that everyone's mouths were hanging open in shock, just a little bit, as fireballs began to rain down from the sky, a sign that the third and final android, the female one and the same android who had burned Reese's legs, had arrived as well.

And sure enough, there she was, fire streaming out of her head as if it were hair, and she dove down, blocking one of the terrakinetic's strikes with the clanking sound of metal hitting metal.

"Sister!" the terrakinetic shouted, sounding almost _surprised_ at this new development. "Brothers, stop!"

The hydrokinetic stomping him down deeper in the lava stopped the android from continuing. Finally, Red Tornado dove down feet-first into the molten rock, helping his siblings in one final sacrifice, one that would hopefully help save all of humanity.

But, before Tornado burnt up completely, Conner surged forward, yanking the Justice Leaguer out of the lava and depositing him back where the rest of the Team was standing, and Silverbird winced as she noticed that the bottom halves of Red Tornado's legs were completely gone, melted within the super-heated rock.

The mountain started to rumble again, only this time the shakes seemed worse than before, and Reese had a feeling that the terrakinetic android had done... _something_ to speed forward the eruption he had set in motion earlier.

"Tornado, listen!" Wally suddenly shouted, spinning around to face the android. "We're on the verge of a Stage Three supervolcano eruption! There's no turning back from that! We need to vent pressure, _fast._ But _,_ the ash cloud will bring on a worldwide nuclear winter _unless_ you divert it!" Tornado gave a solid nod in agreement, before KF turned to Robin, Dick pulling up his holo-computer without a word. "Triangulate around the pressure locus!" he exclaimed, and Robin pulled up a diagram of the mountain, three red dots appearing in various places on it.

"There, there, and there!" Dick exclaimed, and after he showed the diagram to her, Reese shot a single arrow, the arrowhead splitting into three separate explosive charges that landed on the spots indicated by Robin's diagram, and as smoke began to billow out from the new holes in the mountain, the wires where Red Torando's legs used to be sparked, and the android flew up into the air.

He went higher, and higher, until finally even Silverbird wasn't able to see him anymore. But, what she _was_ able to see was a massive red cyclone appear above the growing ash cloud, high up in the Earth's stratosphere.

The cyclone started to suck up all of the toxic ash, before finally, the massive gray cloud completely dissipated, and the lava that was on the outside of the volcano finally cooled, prompting Wally to pump a fist in the air.

"Yes!" the speedster exclaimed, but his face turned morose again as Red Tornado landed heavily again on the ground, his legs still completely destroyed.

➳➳➳

Once Tornado showed the young heroes where exactly to find T.O. Morrow's secret base beneath the park, Robin set the android up on the old inventor's exam table, which reminded Reese distinctly of the same exam table Doctor Frankenstein used in Mary Shelley's novel, while creating his "creature".

"There. That should do it," Silverbird glanced over as Robin and Kid Flash finished working on Red Tornado's head, the android's faceplate open, exposing the metallic parts within.

"Yes," the Leaguer said firmly. "I can speak again,"

"You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save the planet," Aqualad spoke up, walking forward until he stood next to Red Tornado, though the android didn't seem to think he had done much worth thanking for.

"The planet would've survived," he said firmly. "It is humanity that was saved. Though, not by me," Tornado added. "My sister and brother were the true heroes this day,"

"My point is this," Kaldur continued. "You were never the mole. Never a traitor,"

"No," Red Tornado admitted. "I left to protect you from further attack and to find my creator, Morrow," But, Reese realized, that also begged the question: If Red Tornado hadn't been the mole, then who _was_?

Suddenly, from where she was standing over by a worktable with Dick and Wally, pawing through old android parts, Reese gave a loud sneeze, startling both boys enough that KF dropped the mechanical hand he had grabbed as his souvenir.

"Dang it," the brunette muttered. "And here I was thinking I had finally gotten over that stomach bug,"

"I think GA may need to take you back to the doctor, pretty bird," Robin spoke up, grinning, but Silverbird just sent him a dry glare.

"Tell me you didn't just say that," she deadpanned, but Dick just shrugged, before taking a massive robotic foot out of the multitude of android parts, turning to Red Tornado.

"Hey, Reddie!" Robin exclaimed, holding the android leg up in the air. "We can rebuild you! Better than you were before!" But, though his metallic face showed no expression, given that he had no facial features except for eyes and a slotted mouth, Red Tornado seemed almost... _reluctant_.

"I do not believe I _should_ be repaired," he said, and for a few moments, everyone was struck silent, before finally, Superboy turned around.

"Why'd you volunteer to become our den mother in the first place?" Conner asked sharply, and after a moment, Tornado answered.

"I was the pragmatic choice," the android began calmly. "I do not require sleep, I have no secret identity or ' _second life_ ' to live..."

"But," Wally added, holding up the mechanical hand he had grabbed and straightened the fingers. "You _do_ have advanced AI programming. Designed to learn, adapt, evolve,"

" _Hello_ , Megan!" M'gann exclaimed, knocking her palm against her forehead. "You wanted to become more human,"

"And there was no way you were going to do that among the _Justice League_ ," Reese added, hands on her hips as Artemis sent her a glance.

"Yeah," the blonde agreed. "They're a bunch of stiffs,"

"You're sure not gonna learn emotion from Batman," Robin spoke up, still holding the android foot in his arms. " _Trust me_ ,"

"Then the Cave was not a proving ground only for us," Kaldur added. "But for you as well,"

"I do not know if these statements are accurate," Red Tornado admitted after thinking it over for a moment. "But, perhaps they are true. And if I understand the term correctly, I believe I have come to... _care_ about you all,"

"See?" Superboy asked. "Practically a meatbag already," This made Red Tornado turn away, looking back to stare up at the ceiling again.

"Which reminds me..."

➳➳➳

After repairing Red Tornado and allowing him to look after the _real_ T.O. Morrow since apparently, the other one was another android, the Team finally got back on the Bioship and began the trip home.

Once they had been in the air for a while, Artemis turned to Zatanna. "So," the blonde began. "Zatanna, how'd you like your kidnapping?"

"It was good," the black-haired girl answered. "First of many, I hope. That is if my dad doesn't ground me for _life_ ," Suddenly, Silverbird groaned and leaned down to hit her head against the console in front of her seat, making everybody turn to look at her.

"Forget _your_ dad," she began. "Green Arrow's _never_ going to let me out of the house again, after the last time I went on a mission while I was supposed to be benched we all ended up getting attacked by a sentient organ and his menagerie of mutated animals,"

"At least we got Wolf out of that situation," Conner spoke up, and Robin nodded from where he was sitting behind Reese.

"Yeah," Dick agreed. "And Zira,"

"The positives at this moment do not outweigh the negatives, Mr. Acrobat," Reese retorted, head still bowed against the console. "I am so freaking _dead_ ,"


	22. 20. Failsafe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last pre-written chapter from Wattpad, so updates after this will probably not be as frequent. But, what better way to end the pre-writes than with a chapter full of angst?!

**M O U N T J U S T I C E**   
**October 16, 16:01 EDT**

This wasn't real. This wasn't real. _This wasn't real_.

Silverbird kept repeating those three words over and over inside her head as she stood with the rest of the Team, plus a newly-returned and rebuilt Red Tornado, inside the cave.

Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, _both_ Green Lanterns...even Batman and Superman. They were all gone, disintegrated by whatever race of hostile aliens decided to invade Earth.

As the camera feed from the Batplane suddenly cut out, another transmission appeared as a holo-screen, blinking for a moment before Zatara's face popped up.

" _Tornado..._ " the magician began, sounding a bit--stunned, for lack of a better word. Frankly, Reese didn't blame him in the slightest. I mean, these aliens had just taken down seven _powerhouses_ of the Justice League. They'd taken down _Superman_. " _Did you--_ "

"Yes, Zatara," the aerokinetic android said simply. "We saw. Celestial defenses have failed. Initiate all terrestrial measures,"

" _Affirmative_ ," Zatara responded. " _See you in the field,_ " As soon as the magician's face disappeared from the holo-screen, and the screen disappeared altogether, Red Tornado turned around to face the Team.

"I must join the League," he explained firmly. "We will protect the planet at all costs. But should we fail--" Tornado added after a moment. "The responsibility falls to you," From the corner of her eye, Reese saw Aqualad glance over at all of them, before he turned back to Tornado.

"We stand ready," Kaldur said with conviction, and Tornado gave a small, almost solemn-looking nod before he walked over to the Zeta tubes.

**_Recognized Red Tornado 1-6_ **

As soon as he was gone, Aqualad turned towards Robin, who was standing beside Reese and gestured with one hand.

"Turn on GBS," Kaldur began. "We'll be able to follow the Justice League's efforts that way," Dick gave a small nod before his fingers practically flew across a holo-keyboard that suddenly popped up, before a screen appeared, showcasing a news broadcast.

" _This is Iris West-Allen reporting live_ ," Wally's aunt said as she stood in the middle of the fray in Central City, gesturing over her shoulder with one arm. " _The extra-terrestrials have brought their relentless global attack to Central City,_ " Reese gasped, as one of the smaller alien ships suddenly blasted a building behind Iris, while two more disintegrated two separate groups of running civilians.

The ships pointed towards Iris, but there was a sudden red streak, and she was sped out of the way, as an exclamation of " _Tropsnart siht namaremac to ytefas!"_ that could really only have been spoken by Zatara, the screen turned to gold sparkles before the cameraman was on the roof of a building away from the alien ships' current warpath, and Iris was carried up to the same roof by Flash a split-second later.

" _You should both be safe here_ ," Zatara said. " _At least for now_ ,"

" _Thank you...Flash_ ," Iris spoke, glancing towards her husband for a long moment before turning to the magician standing there as well. " _And Zatara_ ," Barry set a hand on Iris's shoulder for a second, before running away, Zatara following on a levitating platform a short time later. When they were gone, Iris glanced towards her cameraman. " _Danny, you okay_?" The cameraman gave a thumbs up which, despite the impending apocalypse, made Reese crack a small smile. " _As you can see,_ " Iris began after a moment to regain her bearings, gesturing to the building where Flash and Zatara were trying to evacuate another group of civilians. " _The Justice League is attempting to hold the line--"_

But, as soon as she said that, another alien drone ship flew above the building where the civilians, Flash, and Zatara were standing, shooting a blast of energy at them, and making the roof of the building explode.

Then, everything started to happen too fast for Reese to comprehend. Barry was dead, Zatara was dead, Iris was dead, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Dinah, her _dad_.

When Green Arrow and Black Canary got disintegrated, her mind went blank. What kind of exercise _was_ this? What kind of exercise had Batman devised that had _this,_ this whole... _apocalypse_ as an effective training method? 

It was more of an effective way to _traumatize_ them all.

The newsfeed from Taipei disappeared, revealing again Cat Grant, at the GBS news studio. The blonde anchor looked shaken, though Silverbird figured all of them looked that way at the moment, regardless of whether this whole situation was real or not. As Cat started to speak again, Reese felt a finger gently poke her in the ribs, and the brunette turned to see Dick staring at her, his mask lenses narrowed in concern.

She didn't know what she looked like at the moment, but Silverbird knew her skin had to be about three shades paler than it usually was. But, instead of speaking to her partner, Reese instead turned towards the holo-screen again, listening as Cat continued her report. 

When she felt Robin slip his gloved hand into hers though, Silverbird didn't pull away, giving the Boy Wonder a squeeze that signified yes, she was still here, and yes, physically, she was _okay._

" _Ladies and gentlemen_ ," Cat was saying. " _We've lost Black Canary, Green Arrow, and the Hawks. Other heroes reported dead or missing include Batman, Icon, Atom, and Aquaman,_ "

As Reese took a breath, Robin pulled up another holo-screen from the various camera drones floating around the country, this one from the camera in Smallville, where Wonder Woman and Red Tornado were battling more of the smaller alien ships.

With her lasso, Diana had tied up one of the ships, and spun it around in midair, before launching it, causing the ship to hit another, and making both explode. But, the Amazonian princess, exemplary as all her skills were, was not invincible, and as such, missed the third alien ship hovering above her head.

" _Wonder Woman_!" Red Tornado shouted, trying to convey a warning. " _Above you_!" 

The Amazon whipped around as the ship fired at her, trying to use her mythical bracers as a shield, but though the metal armbands were able to deflect most things, not even a gift from the Greek Gods was strong enough for this.

With Diana dead, that only left Red Tornado, and as another ship, a much, _much_ larger ship than any other they had seen so far, appeared above Smallville, the android quickly flew higher up into the air, out of the way of the mothership, as it crushed the small Kansas town beneath it.

" _R_ _ed Tornado to Cave_ ," he began. " _I fear I am all that remains of the League--_ "

"RT!" Robin shouted, but it was too late. 

Even though Red Tornado managed to make one alien drone ship explode with his powers, his back was left unprotected, and another ship shot the android from behind, disintegrating him as well.

For a moment, the seven of them inside Mount Justice were silent, processing what had just happened, before finally, Kaldur spoke up.

"We are Earth's heroes now," Aqualad said simply, and Silverbird glanced over her shoulder at him as Superboy turned to glare at their leader.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Conner snapped, looking as if he was itching for a fight. "A theme song?"

"A strategy," the Atlantean corrected sternly, walking forward a few steps so he was standing in between Dick and Reese. "Earth's weapons are ineffective, and it has been made tragically clear that a direct attack will not succeed,"

"Checking satellite imagery..." Robin began slowly, tapping away at his own holo-screen before a massive blue hologram globe appeared in the center of the cave, much like when Zatara had tried to locate the Injustice League. Spattered across the map were various red blobs, some clustered together so close they seemed almost solid in color, while others were by themselves. "Here's where the aliens are now," Dick continued, and Reese's eyes widened as she realized just how much these invaders had overtaken the Earth.

"This one get lost?" Superboy spoke up as he walked forward, pointing a finger towards the top of the globe, where Silverbird was able to see a single red blotch in the North Atlantic ocean, a little way off from the southern coast of Greenland.

Her eyes narrowed as she recognized the subarctic location, and so too, it seemed, did Dick.

"That's Superman's Fortress of Solitude!" the Boy Wonder exclaimed, and from the corner of her field of vision, Reese saw Conner's eyes widen.

"Superman has a Fortress of Solitude?" the genomorph exclaimed, and Reese figured it was unlikely the Man of Steel had told his clone he had it. They weren't exactly on the best of terms at the moment. Or ever, for that matter.

"The Fortress's power source probably caught the aliens' attention," Silverbird spoke up, glancing again towards Robin as she gave a small shrug. "At least enough for them to send a scout or two, rather than their entire armada,"

"Must be some fortress," Superboy muttered under his breath as he walked away for a few steps, only stopping when M'gann gently set a hand on his arm.

"Conner..." the Martian trailed off, but it didn't look like Superboy was about to have a temper tantrum, so Reese supposed that was a plus.

"No, it's okay," Conner said, glancing off to the side. "I guess there's a lot about Superman I'll never know. Uh, you know," he added after a moment. " _Now_ ,"

"We will target this lone ship," Kaldur said firmly, before Wally spoke up, for the first time since Red Tornado had left the cave.

"Yeah," the speedster echoed, pounding his fist into his palm. "Break it down. Build more. Hit those ugly aliens with their own mojo. _Ow_!" Kid Flash winced as Artemis elbowed him hard in the ribs.

" _Martian_ and _Kryptonian_ in the house," the blonde hissed, and KF turned towards M'gann and Conner, who were staring at Wally, their expressions unreadable, and the redhead scrambled for a different statement.

"Uh, not that all aliens are _automatically_ ugly," he stammered out, and Reese rolled her eyes as she turned away from Wally and Artemis and towards where Dick was fidgeting with his utility belt.

"You think we can do this?" she whispered and watched as Robin's hands paused what they were doing. For a few seconds, he didn't say anything, before finally, Dick sighed.

"What else are we supposed to do?" he said, his words barely more than a breath as the Boy Wonder turned to face her. "Aqualad's right, we _are_ Earth's heroes now. Batman, Superman, the others, they're not going to be there to help us. Plus, Rhysalin, this is what we've _trained for_ ,"

"You've trained for an apocalypse where all of our mentors and parental figures get disintegrated before our very eyes?" Reese retorted, crossing her arms. "I somehow find that hard to believe,"

Robin just shrugged. "Well, okay," he began. "Not this, _specifically_ , but you know, we knew it had to come _eventually_. Plus," he suddenly gave a small smile as he gently bumped his hip against hers. "As long as I've got you, pretty bird, I'll be okay,"

"Yeah," Silverbird whispered, feeling her spirits lift a little bit, though she still had a bad feeling about this whole thing. "Boy Wonder, you really think this could work?"

"I hope it works," Dick said quietly. "But, you know we can't fully prepare for these kinds of things, Reese,"

"Yeah, I know," she whispered. "But, I guess all we can do is try and hope for the best,"

"Exactly," the black-haired boy next to her responded, though Reese could see that even he looked a bit skeptical. "Hope for the best,"

➳➳➳

Polar stealth. Not a mode Reese had needed to use thus far since Batman had outfitted all of them with the new stealth tech in their suits, but, despite the situation, it was pretty cool.

Silverbird's polar stealth suit was in shades of white and light gray, while her hood was lined with faux-fur and had thermal threading built-in to keep her warm in the arctic climate. The alien's scout ship, on the other hand, hovered stark and black, standing out against the snow and ice of the tundra.

Reese held a breath as she and Artemis ducked behind a wall of snow, arrows drawn and ready, and hoped to whatever deity was still out there that the scout ship hadn't seen them.

Luckily, it seemed like it hadn't, but they weren't out of the woods yet. The Team still had to _defeat_ this scout ship before they'd be able to even _hope_ to make a dent in resistance against the rest of the invaders.

M'gann was camouflaged in the air above the ship, and she used her telekinesis to rip off part of the scout ship's arm.

' _Communications disabled_ ,' the Martian said over the psychic link as electricity sparked from where the arm had been ripped off before the ship fell to the snow with a dull 'thud'. ' _Propulsion disabled,_ '

Quickly, Artemis lurched around the side of the snow wall and shot a single arrow towards the scout ship, foam erupting out of the end and covering the front of the ship with gray foam.

Of course, _that_ made the blaster on the top of the ship start firing in the general direction of where the arrow had come from, and Silverbird's eyes widened as one blast of reddish-orange energy flew six inches away from her face.

' _And E.T.s are sealed inside_!' the blonde exclaimed, ducking herself as the ship continued blasting.

Aqualad, who had been in the cold arctic water below the ice, suddenly leaped to the surface, using his water-bearers as whips to try and take care of the scout ship, but the blaster turned towards him, ready to disintegrate him into oblivion. Kaldur ducked, trying to avoid the blow, but it never came, because Wolf leaped onto the blaster in his place, knocking it aside and thus saving the Atlantean's life.

As Conner held the blaster in place to keep it from shooting any of them, the rest of the team moved in to try and remove it from the ship as a whole. If they were able to manage that and were able to connect the blaster to the Bioship, they'd be able to fight back against the invading aliens, and maybe give them a taste of their own medicine.

Silverbird darted out from her place behind the snow-wall with Artemis and instead jumped up onto the top of the invaders' ship beside Robin as Dick pulled up his holo-computer.

' _Identifying weapon structural stress points and links to the ship_ ,' the Boy Wonder began as a diagram of the ship's blaster appeared on the screen, and he studied it for a moment before speaking again. ' _Here, here, and here,'_

Steam erupted from the three places on the base of the blaster that Robin had indicated, and Superboy braced himself as he began to strain, trying to pull the blaster off so they would be able to connect it to the Bioship.

But, as Conner started to pull the blaster from its base, Reese's ears caught the sound of a high-pitched buzzing. She glanced around, and her eyes widened again as she saw a sensor appear at the bottom of the blaster pointing straight at Conner.

She opened her mouth to warn the genomorph, but Wolf moved before Reese was able to do anything. The massive white canine's ears pricked, and he slammed into Conner, knocking him to the side and off the invaders' ship, and let the beam hit him instead. A flash of light and he was gone...just like that.

Just like the others.

' _Wolf..._ ' M'gann trailed off as she stared at where the white wolf had been only a few seconds before, and everything inside Reese's head started to blur together. Even Robin looked shocked, before he glanced over his shoulder at where Conner was standing, his expression unreadable.

' _There was no indication of feedback_ ,' Dick said slowly. ' _I'm sorry,_ ' Conner glanced to the side for a moment, clenching his jaw for a moment before he turned back to face the others.

_' Can't do anything for him now,_ ' the genomorph said solemnly, before taking his place again at the top of the alien ship and ripping the blaster from its base, this time without incident. ' _Let's go_ ,' After a moment, he leaped into the air, landing on the camouflaged Bioship as it flew down next to the other alien ship. M'gann joined him and placed her hands on the side.

' _Rerouting system to integrate weapon into ship's bio-matrix,_ ' M'gann said simply as she began to merge the scout ship's blaster to the Bioship. ' _I'll need to de-camouflage for a few minutes_ ,'

' _We may not have a few minutes!'_ Dick snapped, and Reese felt her stomach drop as more of the invading aliens' ships appeared in the sky.

As the ships began to fly towards the Team, Kaldur looked over his shoulder, jaw clenched tightly. ' _Miss Martian!'_ the Atlantean began. ' _Open fire!'_

' _Can't_!' M'gann answered simply. ' _Weapons systems are offline to incorporate the new cannon, and that's not fully integrated yet either!'_

' _Got you covered!'_ Artemis shouted suddenly as she spun around to shoot more arrows at the attacking ships, and without another thought, and ignoring Robin's hand as he tried to grab her, Silverbird leaped off the side of the downed scout ship and ran towards Artemis.

' _Get inside!_ ' the brunette shouted as she too began to shoot arrows towards the ships. ' _We're right behind you!_ ' One of Reese's arrows hit the two alien ships in the air and managed to knock both of them out of the sky, making one explode.

But, it was the other that posed the biggest problem. Because, though it was currently downed in the snow and ice, its cannon was still fully operational, and Silverbird heard the weapon powering up as she and Artemis neared the Bioship.

' _Artemis, look out_!' Reese shouted, turning towards her friend, but it was too late. 

As the blonde turned to look over her shoulder, the weapon was discharged, and Artemis was engulfed by the energy beam. 

The shockwave threw Silverbird through the air, making Reese skid across the ice on her side, and however protective her stealth suit was, it wasn't enough to stop a particularly sharp icicle from scratching her ribs.

Because this was real. This whole thing, it _wasn't_ an exercise, it was _real_ , and as Dick scrambled to help Reese up before she too got disintegrated, the young archer heard both M'gann and Wally scream.

"Get inside," Kaldur began as Robin hooked one of Silverbird's arms over his shoulder, before Aqualad ran forward with his water-bearers drawn, slicing through the ice and stabbing it through the last ship.

Reese leaned her head against Dick's shoulder as they stood at the entrance to the Bioship, watching the scout ship explode, as shock began to set in.

"They're _dead_ ," Reese heard Wally mutter, and she shifted so she'd be able to see the speedster better. "Every single alien, if it's the last thing I _do_ ,"

➳➳➳

The Bioship was silent. Well, almost silent, save for Wally's angry shouting as he hit his console with both hands, and M'gann's quiet sobbing from where she sat, piloting the Bioship.

Reese could feel tears in the corners of her eyes as she and Dick stood in the back, with Robin bandaging her side. The scratch really wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it still looked pretty ugly.

"I should've stopped it," her voice was so quiet Dick almost didn't catch it, but his hands stilled from where he was straightening out the bandage now wrapping around the brunette's abdomen, and he sighed for a moment before speaking.

"Pretty bird," he said softly. "There was nothing you could've done,"

"But, I was _right there_ , Dick," Reese continued, keeping her voice hushed so the others, not even Superboy, would be able to hear the two of them. "I was _right there_ , and I couldn't--I couldn't _save_ her,"

"Hey," the black-haired boy continued, setting aside the first-aid kit and making sure Reese was looking at him before he said anything more. "If you had done anything, you probably would've gotten hit by the cannon as well,"

"I should've at least _tried_ ," the brunette retorted, and Dick sighed as he realized that he wasn't getting through to her. 

What had the world come to? This morning, everything had been _fine_. He and Reese had been _normal_ , whatever that word meant for people in their line of work, and now...now...everything had just gone _wrong_.

"Rhysalin," Dick began quietly, wondering if telling Reese this _now_ was really the best time. But, considering the world was ending and any of them could die at any moment, what did he had to lose? "I need to tell you something,"

Reese tilted her head to the side, the question practically shining in her brown eyes, and Dick took a deep breath, trying to muster up the small amount of courage he still had left. What did he have to lose?

"Pretty bird," he began slowly. "I lo--"

"There will be time to mourn later," Aqualad's voice said sternly from the front of the Bioship, presumably in response to Wally's explosive reaction. 

Robin sighed heavily, halfway relieved that his leader had interrupted his confession before he could finish, and he went to walk back to the front of Bioship, but Silverbird's hand stopped him before he could.

"Wait," she said quietly. "What'd you need to say?" As he looked at her, Dick was suddenly reminded why he had fallen in love with her in the first place. She was just so... _Reese_.

"I'll tell you later," he whispered and tried to give the girl in front of him a reassuring smile when she gave him a disbelieving look. "Promise," Reese seemed to accept that answer (considering Dick wasn't lying), and the two of them made their way to join the others just as Aqualad stood up from his chair.

"Now, we have a job to do," Kaldur was saying as they walked in. "Defend the Earth. And make sure Artemis's sacrifice was not in vain,"

"Back to the cave?" M'gann asked, her voice still choked up with grief, but Aqualad just shook his head.

"The Hall of Justice," he corrected calmly. "The human race must know that there are _still_ heroes defending them. There is still hope,"

But, Dick could only wonder as he strapped himself into his chair, how long exactly would that hope last?

➳➳➳

The United States military was already fending off another attack at the Hall by the time the Bioship flew into D.C.'s airspace.

The Bioship was still camouflaged to not alert any of the invading ships to their presence, and as such, that allowed M'gann to fly it silently until it was directly behind four of the ships.

And then, using the new cannon the Team had gotten in the arctic, the one they had gotten with way too high of a price, the Bioship opened fire, disintegrating one of the ships and allowing Conner to jump out of the Bioship onto another one, punching the scout ship until it fell to the ground, as the Bioship's cannon took care of the last two.

Then, M'gann de-camouflaged, and the rest of the Team, sans Superboy, who was already on the ground, exited the Bioship, to cheers from the soldiers gathered at the capital.

"I'm _not_ Superman," Conner corrected grouchily in response to a few soldiers' comments as Robin, Silverbird, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, and Aqualad began to walk forward, only for the genomorph to be confronted by an older man in fatigues, who obviously had to be the younger soldiers' superior.

"I don't know who you are, son," the man began. "And right now, I don't care. You wear the ' _S',_ and you got the job done,"

"I'm not Superman," Conner muttered, glancing to the side, and Reese set a small hand on her friend's shoulder as the man gave him a barely-there smile.

"Tell that to the enemy," he said simply, before saluting to Aqualad. "General Wade Eiling, U.S. Air Force,"

"Aqualad," Kaldur responded in kind. "Justice League. We'll help you salvage as many of the aliens' cannons as possible. Then," Aqualad's eyes narrowed. "We start taking back what is ours,"

Before anyone could respond to that, the far side of the city suddenly erupted into explosions and blasts of fire, as a new squad of enemy alien ships appeared on the horizon.

"Get in position!" Eiling shouted to his soldiers as the ships grew closer, but Silverbird wasn't sure what weaponry the United States government had that would be effective against the invaders.

She let out a Canary Cry at two of the approaching ships and made both explode before suddenly, the back of her head buzzed as someone had just given her a static shock, and the brunette spun around, to see everything start to move in slow motion around her.

The only thing that continued moving at a regular speed was an alien ship across the street, it's cannon pointed straight at Robin.

The Boy Wonder didn't see it, his back was turned as he flung birdarangs towards another ship, and Reese's breath lodged in her throat as she realized that if she didn't act now, Robin would be the aliens' next victim, the next Team member to be disintegrated after Artemis.

She couldn't save Artemis, but she could save Dick, and that was _exactly_ what Reese planned to do. So she ran, leaping over a piece of fallen concrete as the ship's cannon began to power up.

"Robin!" she shouted as she got closer, causing Dick to glance over his shoulder at her, mask lenses wide. " _Move_!"

Reese slammed her hands against Robin's chest just as the cannon discharged, shoving Dick backward, out of the way of the cannon with as much strength as she could muster...and let the energy beam hit her instead.

Robin's back slammed against the ground, and it was as if Dick suddenly had tunnel vision. Everything else around him, all the other alien ships, his friends and the soldiers battling them...it was like they all just disappeared.

All he saw, all he _experienced_ , was seeing Silverbird sprinting towards him, her eyes wide with terror as she jumped at him, pushing him back, out of the way of the alien ship that he hadn't seen, and taking his place in front of it.

Ten seconds and it was over. Ten seconds, for the energy beam to engulf Reese in its garish light, and then she was gone.

Reese was _gone_. She had sacrificed herself...for _him_.

Dick didn't realize he was screaming until Wally appeared in front of him, eyes wide and face white as a sheet, the speedster realizing what had happened in the span of half a second.

"Help her!" Robin cried to Kid Flash, grabbing the front of Wally's costume as his friend skidded to a stop on the broken concrete, the redhead staring at the spot where Silverbird had been a few moments before. "You have to _help her_ ,"

That was also when Dick felt the arrowhead around his neck turn ice-cold. Scrambling to grab it, alien ships still shooting around him and Wally, Dick reached beneath the collar of his costume, wrapped his hand around the chain, and pulled out the necklace, only for his heart to drop to his feet.

It wasn't gold. The arrowhead, one of the two identical magical objects that Kent Nelson had given to Reese, wasn't _gold_. Instead, the small object had turned to a chalky-colored gray and was seeming to suck all the light out of the immediate vicinity.

It wasn't gold anymore, because now...it was _lead_. 

Vaguely, Dick was reminded of the last time he had almost had a nervous breakdown when Reese had put on the Helmet of Fate while the Team had gone up against the Injustice League.

After Nabu had let Reese go, she had said that Kent told her not to let the arrowheads turn to lead, because that meant that one of them was... _dead_.

He went numb. Dick went numb, and he was half-aware of his legs trembling for a moment, before full-on giving out, the only thing keeping the Boy Wonder from completely falling over being Wally, who snatched up his friend before Robin could hit the ground.

"No..." he whispered, thoughts running through his mind at light-speed. That wasn't possible. Reese _couldn't_ be dead. She _couldn't_ be. "No, no, no, no, _no_ ,"

Wally, though he knew an inkling of what had happened, had never, _ever_ seen Dick lose it this bad. He admitted to not believing in magic, but he knew what those arrowheads meant to Dick and Reese, magic or no, and he _knew_ that the arrowhead turning gray instead of gold meant something was very, _very_ , wrong.

"Aqualad!" KF shouted over his shoulder, noticing that the other alien ships seemed to be retreating, at least for the time being. "We have a problem!" Kaldur quickly ran over from where he had been talking with General Eiling, but when he reached Wally and Dick and realized that Reese wasn't with them, his face dropped.

"Silverbird?" he asked anyway, but all Wally could do was shake his head. Aqualad gave a small solemn nod before his eyes landed on the Boy Wonder. 

Robin's gaze, though no one could see his eyes behind his mask, had turned vacant, and Kaldur had a thought that the only thing keeping the thirteen-year-old from falling was Kid Flash's grip.

Kaldur'ahm wasn't an idiot, he knew how much the two youngest members of the Team cared for each other, and regardless of what Robin thought, Aqualad had never had any sort of romantic feelings towards Silverbird. 

He valued-- _had_ valued the twelve-year-old's friendship, and Reese had been a treasured member of the Team, regardless of whether or not she thought she was good enough. How they'd manage without her, how _Robin_ would manage without her, Kaldur honestly didn't know.

"Get him inside the Hall," the Atlantean said finally. "We're safe for the time being, and we need to think of a plan,"

Nodding once, Wally turned towards the front steps and began to climb them, still securely holding Dick while also making sure that Robin didn't fall, and Kaldur went to go find Conner and M'gann, and presumably tell them the news.

First Artemis, and now Reese? 

Wally had already been planning on getting rid of every last alien for what had happened up in the arctic, but now he realized that he probably needed to get in line. Because after Dick was done with them, KF wasn't sure there'd be any aliens left.

The two teens were halfway up the stairs when Robin started muttering under his breath again, and Kid Flash had to strain to hear what the Boy Wonder was saying.

"I never got to tell her," Dick was whispering, over and over again, and Wally's heart dropped. 

Sure, he had teased both Dick and Reese about their relationship, or rather lack thereof, before, but he'd never known that Dick was _serious_ about it. And now, with Reese gone...

"I'm sorry, Rob," the redhead said finally, but it was as if Dick's brain wasn't really processing what was going on. 

Wally knew that that was a common reaction to something traumatic, and he didn't mean to sound callous, but if the Team members that were left had any hope of defeating the aliens and avenging their fallen archers, then they needed their resident Bat.

The two of them had only been in the foyer of the Hall of Justice for a few seconds when Superboy, Miss Martian, and Aqualad joined them and judging from the looks on Conner and M'gann's faces, Kaldur had already told them what had happened.

"She's really gone?" M'gann whispered, and this was when Robin finally jerked from his stupor, at least enough for him to glance over his shoulder at the Martian and scowl.

"You think I'd be like this if she _wasn't_?" he snapped, and M'gann recoiled at his harsh tone. Even Wally was surprised, but then he looked around and realized that the statues of the Founders, of Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and the others, were absolutely destroyed, the heads of the massive bronze statues on the floor as if someone had thrown them around haphazardly.

The Justice League, _all_ of them, were really gone. Dick couldn't process it, he didn't _want_ to process it, because if the League was gone, that meant Artemis was gone, that _Reese_ was gone, and he didn't want to deal with the implications of that. 

He _couldn't_ deal with the implications of that, because what was the point? His mentor, the man who had raised Dick, more or less, after his parents were killed, was gone, the girl he _loved_ was gone, and the world was ending as he knew it.

What was the point?

Robin opened his mouth, to say what, he wasn't entirely sure, but before he could, pain exploded from every corner of his brain, eerily similar to the headache he had gotten in Gorilla City, only this time it was fifty times worse.

Dick clamped both hands down on the sides of his head as he collapsed, falling to his knees behind the Batman statue's head, willing the pain to just _stop_. It felt as if someone were hammering a hot spike into the back of his head, and Dick needed it to _stop_. Outside the pounding of his head, as the psychic pain reached what _had_ to be its apex, Robin could hear Kid Flash and Aqualad calling to him. But the pain just _wouldn't stop_.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, the pain _did_ stop, and Dick's arms fell to his sides, the Boy Wonder taking in heaving, shuddering breaths, trying to regain some semblance of control over himself as he braced himself against the bronze Batman head.

Dick could feel sweat running down the side of his face, and he wondered vaguely if he looked as bad as he felt. Judging from the looks on Wally and Kaldur's faces, it wasn't pretty.

"Dude," Kid Flash began, eyes wide. "What _was_ that?"

"I don't know," Robin said quietly because he didn't, not really. Silverbird was gone, and his arrowhead had turned to lead, so why would it still be protecting his mind?

Suddenly, from across the entrance hall where she had been kneeling against her uncle's fallen statue, M'gann hovered into the air, and she flew back, before telekinetically lifting the massive statue head out of the way and throwing it to the side, revealing the _real_ Martian Manhunter underneath.

"Uncle J'onn!" Miss Martian exclaimed, sounding absolutely ecstatic, and went to embrace her uncle, but Aqualad lurched in front of her, blocking M'gann with an arm before she was able to reach him.

' _M'gann,_ ' the Atlantean warned her sternly. ' _Check his mind. Make sure he is who he appears to be_ ,' The _last_ thing they needed right now was someone impersonating one of their mentors, but fortunately, it didn't seem as if that were the case.

' _It's him_!' M'gann exclaimed, her voice growing more exuberant with every sentence. ' _He's real! And he's alive_!'

"But we saw you get disintegrated!" Conner cut in, not inclined to believe that the alien in front of all of them was _really_ Martian Manhunter. "You _and_ Superman...and everyone,"

"Yes," J'onn said slowly as M'gann helped him to stand. "I remember. But, I cannot remember how I survived. _Or_ how I arrived here,"

"Maybe you were density shifting?" M'gann proposed. "And the beam passed right through you, causing you to lose your memory?"

"My mind _is_ clouded," J'onn admitted slowly. "I feel certain I had something important to tell you..."

' _Hello, Wally_!' KF suddenly exclaimed over the psychic link, before he was dragging Robin back outside. ' _Come on_!' When the two were outside, Wally dragged Dick over to the Bioship and had him pull up a holo-screen diagram of the cannon's schematics. ' _I knew it!'_ the speedster cried as he studied the cannon with his goggles. ' _It's giving off zeta beams, the same stuff that powers our zeta tubes! This thing doesn't_ _disintegrate_ _...it_ _teleports_ _! You know what this means_?'

' _No_ ,' Dick answered simply, not seeing where Wally was going with this particular train of thought. Kid Flash rolled his eyes, looking a bit exasperated as he grabbed Robin's shoulders and shook him for a moment, practically willing his friend to see what he meant.

' _They're alive_!' Wally exclaimed. ' _Artemis and Reese! They weren't disintegrated, Rob, they were teleported somewhere else! They're both alive!'_

Dick just blinked at him, his facial expression not changing from the unreadable look it had been since Reese had disappeared.

' _Maybe..._ ' he said finally, but Dick was sure, in his gut, that Reese was dead. If _she_ wasn't coming back, then it was unlikely that Artemis would either. ' _But--'_

' _No maybes,'_ Wally interrupted him. ' _They're all alive!_ '

Robin didn't want to tell the speedster that he didn't agree with him, that it was likely, probable even, that this disintegration cannon was exactly that. A _disintegration_ cannon. Though that didn't explain how Martian Manhunter had gotten to the Hall after the _entire_ Team had seen him get disintegrated when the aliens had first invaded.

But, there wasn't a lot of time for Dick to think about it, because before he could tell Wally his thoughts, a new wave of invader ships appeared in front of the Hall of Justice, prompting the two to duck behind a nearby army vehicle.

' _We're on our way!'_ Aqualad called over the psychic link, but Robin shut him down before he could finish.

' _Negative,_ ' Dick said firmly. ' _We can't win this. Miss Martian, camo the Bioship--_ ' Before he could finish, a blast from one of the other ships' cannon hit the Bioship head-on, and it disappeared in a flash of light.

Even from his spot outside, Robin was able to hear the two separate cries of pain from M'gann and J'onn, and that began to further prove the theory that had begun to swim around inside his head.

If the Bioship really _had_ been teleported instead of disintegrated, and thus likely stayed unharmed, why had it hurt both M'gann and J'onn? It didn't make any sense.

' _We're falling back!'_ Robin shouted over the psychic link again, and he and Kid Flash, along with General Eiling and the surviving soldiers, entered the Hall again, though Eiling stopped before he got very far.

"We're trapped," the general said matter-of-factly, but the sliding doors slid open when Aqualad stood in front of them, and the Atlantean glanced over his shoulder.

"Maybe not," Kaldur began before he began to lead them all into the library where he, Wally, Reese, and Dick had first left to investigate Project: Cadmus, only three months ago. "We can all zeta to the cave," Aqualad continued, before glancing towards Martian Manhunter. "If _you_ can grant us computer clearance to access the tubes,"

"I can only authorize one at a time," J'onn explained wearily, and Aqualad pointed towards the zeta tube.

"Send the soldiers first," Kaldur said, but Eiling just snapped at him over his shoulder.

"Belay that!" the general shouted. "You six are assets we cannot afford to lose!" 

Though he looked reluctant, Kaldur accepted Eiling's answer and gestured for J'onn to stand in front of the zeta tube's sensor.

"Override," Manhunter began as the camera sensor scanned him. "Martian Manhunter 0-7,"

**_Recognized_ , **the computer said, the doors leading to the tube sliding open. **_Access Granted._**

And then, one by one, the remaining members of the Team headed through the tube. Miss Martian, then Robin.

**_Recognized Miss Martian B-0-6, Robin B-0-1_ **

As Dick stepped out of the zeta tube into Mount Justice, he realized that they were all taking too long, gaining too much attention, and it was an observation that was made dreadfully clear a few seconds later when Wally stumbled out of the zeta tube.

**_Recognized Kid Flash B-0-4_ **

"More ships," the speedster muttered as M'gann helped him stand. "Too many to count,"

"The others?" Miss M asked quietly, her eyes wide as she feared the worst, but all Wally could do was shrug. Dick knew who she was really worried about though. M'gann was worried about Conner, about whether or not her boyfriend would make it through.

He scowled, turning away from the two and walking further into the cave as the zeta tube announced the arrival of Superboy and one of the soldiers who had been at the Hall. It wasn't _fair_. M'gann and Conner got to be happy, they got to be _together_ , while Reese was...Dick didn't want to think about it. He'd thought about it enough, and now he just wanted this whole apocalypse to be over and done with.

J'onn was the last one through the tube, which could only mean one thing. Aqualad, their leader, their _friend_ , had been the next victim of the invading aliens.

He was gone.

➳➳➳

Later, after they had bandaged up Private Barnes and J'onn was trying to recover from his mental ordeal in the center of the cave, Robin gathered the last three members of his Team close by.

Considering Kaldur was gone, and it was unlikely that M'gann, Conner, or Wally would be an effective leader, that left Dick to pick up the pieces. That was just _great_. And fairly ironic, since the grieving Boy Wonder was hardly able to pick up the pieces of his broken heart at the moment either.

"Our next mission is clear," he began as Kid Flash, Superboy, and Miss Martian gathered around. He was trying to be strong, but Robin didn't think he was fooling anybody, and really, Dick couldn't find it in himself to care. "If we believe the aliens have been teleporting their victims--"

"We do," Wally cut him off before he could finish, and Dick had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. _Wally_ thought everyone had been teleported. Dick didn't. In fact, he highly doubted it, but they had to do _something_. And if humoring his redheaded friend was it, then so be it.

Robin frowned at Kid Flash for a moment before using his glove to pull up a holo-screen in front of them. "Then, the only reasonable detention facility is here. The Mothership. Atop what _used_ to be Smallville. Ring any bells?"

His last question, directed towards J'onn, might have been said with a little more irritation than necessary, but no one commented on it.

"No," the Martian said, still sounding weary as he stood up and shook his head. "I'm sorry,"

"Superboy," Next, Dick turned to Conner. "You'll create a distraction--"

" _No_!" M'gann exclaimed, jerking forward, her eyes flicking between Robin and the genomorph. "He's offering you as a sacrifice! Aqualad would never do that!

"You're right," Robin said firmly. "Aqualad would sacrifice himself. A mistake, that just _cost us_ our _leader_. Superboy is the most likely to be perceived as a threat, motivating the aliens to deploy!" he continued after a moment because they _needed_ this plan to work if they had any semblance of _maybe_ taking back Earth. 

"Worst case," Wally added, eyebrows scrunching. "He's teleported _inside_ , and we set him free along with Artemis...and Reese, and Aqualad, and everyone,"

Conner turned towards his girlfriend, presumably telling her something over a psychic link. Whatever it was had to have convinced M'gann somewhat, but she still looked a bit reluctant.

➳➳➳

Then...then came the moment Robin had been dreading since the Hall--since Reese had been killed--since this whole thing had _started_.

As it turns out, Red Arrow _hadn't_ been disintegrated with Green Arrow and Black Canary, but having to tell Roy that his baby sister was dead had rocked Dick to his core, and from where he stood now, on a cliff across from the aliens' mothership, he wished all of it would just _stop_.

"Stay close to J'onn," Robin said out loud as Miss Martian stepped up next to him. "He's still..." Dick didn't finish, but he had a feeling M'gann had caught his meaning because she gave a small nod before Robin glanced over his shoulder. "First team, deploy!"

The Martians flew up into the air, and M'gann took her uncle's hand before they both camouflaged themselves. Luckily, the two managed to get inside the mothership without incident, because a minute later M'gann's voice sounded over a psychic link.

' _Ready and in position,_ ' she said simply, and with that, Robin glanced towards Superboy, the two exchanging a nod before Conner leaped into the air, landing hard on the exterior of the mothership and successfully attracting the aliens' attention.

' _Careful_!' Dick exclaimed, watching through his binoculars as the genomorph ripped one of the exterior cannons from the base. ' _Don't disconnect the power source_ ,' And, even from his spot still, on the cliff, Robin could hear Superboy's shout as he began to shoot at the alien ships flying towards him.

"Alright, you glorified trespassers!" Conner yelled. "You wanna see how a _real_ alien fights?" ' _Now or never_!' he added over a psychic link, and with a running start, Kid Flash leaped over the gap between the edge of the cliff and the nearest entrance to the mothership, Robin securely on his back.

Luckily, they made the jump, both of them landing in a roll once they hit the floor of the landing bay. Dick and Wally ducked behind a nearby alcove mere moments before two more alien scout ships flew out towards Conner.

Robin peeked around the corner and, seeing nothing amiss, rounded it. ' _Way's clear!'_ he shouted mentally to Wally. ' _Go!'_

Quickly, the two sprinted across the landing bay, past several more quiet scout ships before finally pausing again behind some sort of power station as another, squid-shaped ship floated past them.

The two teens watched the ship as it hovered away, but a buzzing sound from behind made them both turn, in time to see a crate fly into another squid-ship, before a still-camouflaged M'gann and J'onn appeared in front of Dick and Wally.

Waving them forward with one hand, Robin lead the other three deeper into the mothership, but they had only traveled down the corridor for a few minutes before Miss Martian suddenly de-camouflaged, falling to her knees.

' _No_ ,' she whispered mentally. ' _He's gone_ ,' 

' _It's alright_ ,' Wally knelt next to her. ' _We'll find him with Artemis. I know it_,'

' _No,_ ' J'onn interrupted, tilting his head downward. ' _My mind is clearer now. The disintegration beam is exactly that. There is no detention facility, no prisoners to rescue. Our mission holds no purpose_ ,'

Dick had known, he'd _known_ that this "rescue mission" had to be in vain, that's why he'd brought the bandolier, but _knowing_ that it meant that Reese was dead, that she (and the others) wasn't coming back, it all came crashing down on him all over again, and he had to brace himself against the wall to keep from collapsing.

Wally, on the other hand, wasn't convinced. 

' _No, you're wrong!'_ he exclaimed, grabbing onto the front of Martian Manhunter's cloak. ' _The zeta radiation proves she's alive! She's--_ '

' _Stop it, KF_ ,' Robin cut in wearily from his spot against the wall. He figured now was as good a time as any to tell Kid Flash the truth. ' _I've been scanning for League and Team signals since we got inside--they're not here. Artemis is gone. What we need to do now_ ,' Dick added as Wally's face turned pallor. ' _Is destroy this mothership_ ,'

With that, Robin left the corridor the four of them were currently standing in, and following the vague schematics he possessed of the inside of the mothership before finally coming to a room wherein the center stood a massive sphere.

' _This is the power core_ ,' he added after consulting his holo-glove. ' _Blow this and the whole mothership blows,_ '

With that, they leaped over the barricade, and Dick jumped off the ledge, landing on another one of the platforms between here and the power core, but as he turned around to see where the others were, he felt a pull at his back, and inwardly kicked himself.

_Of course,_ the power core would have its own magnetic field, because why wouldn't it? As if things hadn't already gone bad enough. 

The bombs strapped across his chest certainly didn't help matters, since the magnetic components inside them started reacting to the field, and thus began to drag Robin backward, closer to the core.

Kid Flash was dragged along with him, and the two tumbled through the air, but before they could hit the power core, Dick shot his grappling line, and it stuck fast against one of the outer platforms, jerking the two of them to a stop.

On the platform above them, another squid-ship appeared, but before it could shoot Robin and KF, Miss M and J'onn hit it instead, landing lightly on the platform, while M'gann used her telekinesis to lower Dick and Wally down to the surface of the power core.

Robin unstrapped the bandolier from around his chest, and set it on the power core, noticing the way Kid Flash's eyes suddenly widened, realization filling them.

' _You knew_ ,' Wally said slowly as Dick began to set the timer for the bombs. ' _You knew from the beginning why we were really here_ ,'

' _You may not believe in magic_ ,' Dick grumbled in response, multitasking as he set the timer. ' _But I do, and I knew from the moment Reese--I just knew, okay?'_

' _You really loved her, didn't you?'_ the redhead asked next, and Robin avoided his gaze, not answering, though he figured Wally took his silence as an answer enough.

' _Four minutes,'_ Dick said finally, the timer finally ready and set. ' _Let's go_ ,' They exited the power core without incident, but when they reached the landing bay where Robin and Kid Flash had first entered, the doors had already shut.

' _Perfect_ ,' Wally muttered, before spinning around as several squid-ships appeared behind them, with one shooting a blast that separated the Martians from Dick and Wally. Robin and Kid Flash landed behind an alcove, and Dick checked his watch.

' _Sixteen seconds and counting,_ ' he said and realizing that there was no way _all_ of them would get off this ship alive, turned across the corridor to where M'gann and J'onn had ducked into another alcove. ' _Manhunter, take Miss M and go,_ '

_'No!'_ M'gann refused instantly. ' _We won't leave you!'_

_'That's an order,'_ Robin snapped back. ' _We'll follow as soon as we blow those doors_ ,' When the two Martians had disappeared through the floor once more, Dick glanced at his watch.

Ten seconds.

Exchanging a glance and singular nod with Wally, Robin made sure his wing-dings were ready before he and Kid Flash darted around the corner of the alcove to face the aliens. There was a resounding ' _boom_ ' as the power core exploded, a flash of blistering heat, then nothing.

Just empty blackness.

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
October 16, 16:21 EDT**

Her eyes flew open and Reese sat up with a resounding gasp, spots flashing before her eyes with enough force that her head started to hurt.

It wasn't real. _None of it had been real_. 

Glancing around, the brunette found that, on the table next to her, Dick lay on his stomach, head hanging over the edge as he pushed himself to his knees.

The last thing she remembered...the last thing Reese remembered was pushing Robin out of the way of a cannon blast at the Hall of Justice. What had happened?

As if realizing that he too, was suddenly awake, Reese was able to see when Dick's blue eyes, behind his sunglasses, suddenly widened to the point that they reminded the twelve-year-old of teacup saucers, and the black-haired boy grabbed at the chain around his neck, hand clenching around the golden arrowhead.

When he looked at it, his entire body seemed to relax, and his head jerked upward, eyes flicking around until they landed on Reese, and she knew that he was thinking the same thing she was.

_What was going on? How...what was going on?_

"You're all alive!" Reese turned towards the far side of the circle, to see M'gann staring at all of them with a broad grin on her face. Batman, who was currently supporting Martian Manhunter, helping J'onn stand, glanced down at his colleague.

"What happened in there?" the Dark Knight asked, and J'onn laid a hand on his forehead before answering.

"The exercise..." Manhunter began slowly. "It all went wrong,"

"Exercise?" Dick echoed, looking towards his mentor as Zira hopped up onto the table beside him, the baby gorilla's eyes flicking between the Boy Wonder and Reese with a sadness that Silverbird had no intention of ever seeing on her face again.

" _Try_ to remember," Batman continued. "What you experienced was a training exercise. Manhunter psychically linked the seven of you within an artificial reality. You all knew this going in. What you _didn't_ know," Bruce added. "Was that it was a trained-for-failure exercise. No matter what the Team accomplished, the scenario was designed to grow _worse_. Still, you were aware _nothing_ was real, including the deaths of the entire Justice League,"

"That is why you hardly grieve," J'onn explained. "Even when Wolf was disintegrated before your eyes. But, all that changed when Artemis died. Though consciously, Miss Martian knew it was not real, her subconscious mind could not make that distinction, and she forgot it was only an exercise. Her subconscious took control and made all of _you_ forget as well,"

Reese and the others looked towards M'gann, who was wringing her hands together and looking completely regretful, but Reese couldn't find it in herself to blame her Martian friend.

"I--" M'gann began, looking around at her teammates. "I'm _so_ sorry,"

"This isn't _her_ fault!" Conner snapped as he stopped rubbing Wolf's ears and looked towards J'onn and Batman. "Why didn't you stop the exercise?"

"We _tried_ ," Manhunter answered. "But, M'gann had a... _death-grip_ on the scenario. Even Artemis, who should've awakened upon her death, was so convinced she had passed, she slipped into a coma. I had hoped that, as the scenario continued, you would've realized on your own that there was no way this scenario could possibly exist, but when Silverbird sacrificed herself to save Robin at the Hall of Justice, things became a _lot_ worse,"

This time, everyone's eyes turned to stare at Reese, and the brunette brought her knees up to her chin and avoided looking at anyone, even Dick, as J'onn continued his explanation.

"You need to understand," Manhunter began. "That we _still_ do not know all of the abilities of the magic jewelry Robin and Silverbird received from the late Kent Nelson. When Reese died, the arrowheads activated their _own_ failsafe, erecting a wall around Robin's mind that I could not pass through on the outside. So, realizing that I needed to wrest control from both of your subconsciouses from within, I _forced_ myself into Robin's mind. But upon entering the reality, I was overwhelmed by your collective emotion. There was too much... _noise_ to think clearly, to remember why I was there. The deaths of Aqualad and Superboy helped, but only when the mothership exploded, and Robin and Kid Flash were silenced, did my mind clear enough to remember my true purpose: to _shock_ either Robin _or_ M'gann out of the exercise, before your comas became permanent,"

Reese closed her eyes, willing the memories from what had _happened_ to stop, but the images kept flashing in her mind over and over again.

"My apologies," J'onn continued. "I had no idea a _training exercise_ could be so dangerous. So _damaging_ ," As Captain Marvel gave M'gann a hug across the room, Reese found herself staring at the ground. This was like when her parents and sister had died, but so, _so_ much worse.

Fabric rustled next to her before Dick was sitting beside her, his face the palest that Reese had ever seen it. She had _died,_ and Robin had _witnessed_ it.

Without saying a word, Reese leaned over and wrapped her arms around Dick's waist, leaning her head on his shoulder as she felt the Boy Wonder tense, before his arms wrapped around her as well, and he buried his face in the crook of her neck.

It was a few seconds later that Reese felt droplets of wetness spattering her shoulder.

It was a few seconds later that Reese realized Dick was _crying_.


	23. 21. Disordered

**M O U N T J U S T I C E**   
**October 23, 17:05 EDT**

Rhysalin Queen was a quiet person by nature.

Most people who didn't know her, and even some people who did, would classify her as more than a little bit shy, and she was generally distrustful of new people.

But, when you _did_ get to know her, you'd realize that there was a lot more to Reese than met the eye. Yeah, she was still a bit quiet and didn't generally want to speak unless she wanted to, and really only spoke to people she _really_ trusted, but she was more outgoing than she was during a first meeting.

As of right now though, six days after the training simulation that turned out to be far more disastrous than Batman had meant, Reese had been sitting in front of Dinah in the room where Black Canary was doing her "assessments" (i.e. seeing how thoroughly traumatized the Team was) for the last fifteen minutes, and she hadn't said a word.

Reese hadn't spoken much during the last week in general, not willing to talk about what had happened, even though she had "died" before the full brunt of the Team's grief had hit her, since she had been the second person to get disintegrated after Artemis.

She and Dick had been joined at the hip ever since they had all woken up, not willing to part if only to make sure the other was still _there_. Dick had even stayed over in Star City the past couple of nights, and Oliver hadn't been able to find it in himself to complain about it.

"Baby bird..." Dinah's soft voice made Reese glance up at her. "We need to talk about what happened,"

But, Reese only shook her head, bringing her knees up to her chin and sinking deeper into the armchair across from Dinah. 

She was the first one to "talk" to Black Canary, mostly because Reese had wanted to get it over with, rather than letting the experiences of what had happened stew inside until they finally exploded.

Now she wished she had waited. Dick and the others were outside in the common room, waiting for their turns, and right now, Reese wished she was out there, rather than in here, with every fiber of her being.

"Fine then," Dinah continued, as Reese's fingers began to tap against the arm of the chair in rapid succession. She wished Dick were here with her. "If you won't talk, I will. Reese, you haven't been sleeping. I've noticed it, your Dad's noticed it, and I'm pretty sure Dick's noticed it too since the two of you always end up pacing the living room around midnight,"

Not a lie, but Reese couldn't stand to sleep. All she saw whenever she closed her eyes were Green Arrow and Black Canary getting disintegrated by that alien cannon in Taipei, and then Artemis in the arctic, and there hadn't been anything for Silverbird to do.

She hadn't been able to _save them_.

So, instead of facing her nightmares head-on and potentially getting rid of them, Reese did the opposite. She ran away from them, staying awake as long as she could without making herself sick, and had used up another thirty-five pages of her sketchbook trying to distract herself.

Her recent drawings had been pretty morbid, and Reese was planning on burning them when this was all over, so she'd need a new sketchbook before long.

Maybe for her birthday...

" _Reese_!" Dinah's voice made the twelve-year-old glance up at her and judging from the look on the blonde's face, she had been trying to get her attention for a while.

"What?" she asked finally, and Dinah gave a small smile, seemingly pleased that she had finally gotten the brunette to speak, even though it was only a single word.

"You _know_ , Reese," Black Canary began, leaning forward and bracing her elbows on her knees. "That I can't fully fathom what you and the others went through, but it's _never_ a good idea to keep all that grief, all those feelings, bottled up inside. When it all comes out, it won't be good,"

"I have enough grief for one person," Reese muttered, leaning her cheek against her knee as she glanced towards the sliding doors that led back into the corridors of Mount Justice, and if she listened, she was able to hear the somber heartbeats of the rest of her friends.

Wally's heartbeat had always run a little fast since he was a speedster, and they generally moved faster than the usual human being, but this time, Dick's heartbeat was almost _as_ fast, though why that was, Reese wasn't entirely sure.

_Worry_ , she suddenly realized. Dick was worried about something and, much like she was, was tapping his fingers against the arm of the couch to a tune that Reese couldn't place, and a minute later, his footsteps sounded as he stood up, beginning to pace in front of the coffee table.

" _Dude_ ," Reese heard Wally mutter morosely from where he had been sitting at the kitchen island before Reese had joined Dinah, his tone so unlike the exuberance the speedster usually possessed. " _Chill_. _Reese'll be back in a few minutes_ ,"

He was worried about _her_ , Reese realized, feeling her face turn warm. That was sweet. Dick was sweet.

Suddenly, Reese turned back to Dinah, seeing the blonde staring at her, sympathy brimming in her blue eyes.

"No one your age should ever have to go through what you have," Canary began. "But, the fact that you _have_ gone through what you have, and risen _above_ it, shows just how strong you really are, Reese,"

"I think strong is the wrong word to use," Reese muttered. "I mean, I found out _two months ago_ that my biological father did something to my DNA that made me have my powers, and his research made Mark Desmond mad enough that he was willing to kill for it. I only survived because Green Arrow saved me,"

"Aren't you glad he saved you?" Dinah asked, and Reese glanced up to see that one of the blonde's eyebrows was raised.

"Of course," she answered. "But, I can't help but think, if my DNA wasn't...whatever it is, then Desmond never would've had to kill Lauren or my parents for it,"

"But he didn't get it," Dinah added. " _You_ survived, and Reese, your DNA doesn't make you weird, or an abomination, or a freak, it makes you _special_. You've honored Derrick Michaels's work by becoming Silverbird and becoming a _hero._ There will always be people who oppose you, or who belittle you, but by showing them that their words don't affect you, you'll affect _them,_ "

Reese glanced to the side again, wondering if maybe Dinah was right. Ever since Silverbird had first come onto the Star City scene as Green Arrow's newest protege, there had always been some corners of the media that attacked her. Verbally, that is.

Mainly because of how _young_ she was, or the fact that they thought a girl wasn't strong enough to keep up with Green Arrow or Red Arrow and make a big difference.

Of course, the last time someone had said something like the latter, Oliver took their company out of business, wiping the floor with them as Oliver Queen, rather than his alter-ego.

"This was different, Dinah," Reese said softly, sitting cross-legged on the chair as she finally met the blonde's gaze. "I thought my world was ending the day my parents died. But this--this was a million times worse,"

Dinah's face fell, and she sat back in her chair, patiently waiting for Reese to continue, now that she was _finally_ opening up.

"I _knew_ it was a simulation," she began. "You know, at first. But, I saw you and Dad die, and I-I didn't _know_ if Red Arrow was still alive; I didn't know where he was. And then--and then Artemis died at the Fortress of Solitude, and suddenly it _was_ real. You and Dad were _really_ dead, and because I hadn't heard from him, I began to think that Roy wasn't coming back either,"

Subconsciously, Reese pressed her hand to her side, where a jagged icicle had scratched her after Artemis died. There wasn't even a scratch there now, there never really had been one in the first place, but Reese still felt the pain from it.

"That was why I couldn't let Dick die too," her voice was so quiet, Dinah almost didn't catch it, but she did, and when she heard what Reese had said, Black Canary swore she almost started crying herself.

"Tell me about that," Dinah said after a moment, not wanting to spook Reese enough that she stopped talking again. "Why did you sacrifice yourself to save Robin at the Hall of Justice?"

"Are you kidding?" Reese responded, her eyes widening. "I had already lost you and Dad, and I had no idea where Roy was, or even if he _was_ still alive. So, when I knew that a cannon was pointing at Dick, that _he_ might be the next person to--to die, I just...I _moved_. I couldn't lose someone else that I love,"

There were _so_ many things that Dinah could unpack from that explanation, but there were a few things that stood out to her, so she tilted her head to the side.

"You said you _knew_ that a cannon was pointing at Robin," she said first, more than a little bit confused. "How? How did you know that?"

But, Reese only shrugged. "I don't know," she answered honestly. "It was as if I just... _sensed_ that he was in danger, and I needed to stop it from happening,"

"Has this happened before?" Dinah asked, and Reese shrugged again.

"Once or twice," she said. "Since the Injustice League, I think is when it started. Dick said that when I was wearing the Helmet, he could _feel_ when Wotan would shoot Nabu, but at first, we just thought that was a side effect of Fate's magic,"

"Now you don't think so?" Dinah asked, cueing another shrug from the young brunette in front of her.

"I don't know what to think," she said. "Kent Nelson died before he could fully explain a lot of things to me, and he wasn't much help either when I put the Helmet on. Except for--"

Reese abruptly cut herself off, glancing to the side as she bit her lip, and Dinah settled back in her chair.

"Except for what?" she asked, and Reese turned back to her.

"Before I took off the Helmet of Fate," she began slowly. "Kent told me some more about the golden arrowheads he gave me in August. He said...he said that, if either Dick or I were to die, then the arrowheads would turn to lead, and we'd turn numb,"

"You think the danger-sense had something to do with that?" Dinah asked, and Reese shrugged again.

"I have no idea," she said before her eyes widened. "You can't tell Batman about this!" she exclaimed. "He's suspicious enough about the magic we have as it is, and I really don't need him to freak out at me even more,"

"Nothing we say in here will leave this room," Dinah answered, before narrowing her eyes. "But, Reese, how do you know Dick hasn't already told Bruce about what the two of you found out?"

"He hasn't," Reese said, her tone brokering no argument, but Dinah wasn't swayed.

"How do you know?" she asked, only for Reese to send her a dry look.

"Because he told me," she answered simply, and Dinah settled back in her chair, suddenly reminded of the _second_ point she needed to address about this whole situation.

"Reese..." she began slowly. "Earlier, when you explained why you saved Robin at the Hall, you said that you couldn't lose anyone else that you love. You obviously love your father, and Roy, because they _are_ like your family, but what about Dick? Do you love him?"

"Of course I do," Reese answered, though judging from the way her face turned beet-red, Dinah knew it wasn't as simple as that.

"I mean," she corrected herself. "Do you love Dick as your brother, like you do Roy?"

Reese's nose wrinkled as if she had just smelled something sour, though Dinah had been expecting that reaction. 

As long as Dick and Reese had known each other, and as long as Dinah had known them, their relationship had never really been one between siblings. They just never saw each other that way.

"What I'm asking, Reese," she continued. "Is not if you love Dick. I know you do. What I'm asking is if you are _in_ love with him. Trust me, there _is_ a difference,"

For a few seconds, Reese shuffled in her seat, bringing her hands up into the sleeves of her hoodie. Ironically, the sweatshirt had once belonged to Dick, but Reese had stolen it months ago.

Finally, the brunette sighed, looked at Dinah, and gave a small nod.

Dinah was surprised. Reese was a pretty private person in general, and getting her to admit to something as complex and complicated as her feelings usually took a lot more work. But, it seemed as if, once Reese got talking about what happened during the simulation, she was just admitting _everything_.

Reese, on the other hand, felt...at peace. She had known that the rest of the Team had all thought that she and Dick were dating for a while, regardless of what the two told them, and maybe these feelings had always been inside her, and maybe she had been too scared to realize that, but she hadn't been 100% sure of them until today.

Now, all she had to do was tell Dick. 

No pressure.

"What if he doesn't feel the same way?" she whispered, and Dinah's face softened before she answered.

"Baby bird, Dick _adores_ you. I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think," Quite the opposite, in fact, if Dinah was being honest. She was pretty sure the only person who _didn't_ know that Dick was in love with Reese was Reese herself.

"But what if it _is_?" Reese asked. "If I tell Dick, and he doesn't feel the same way, it will _ruin_ our friendship. I can't do that,"

"Reese..." Dinah said slowly, reaching forward and setting a hand on the younger girl's knee. Reese tensed up at the physical contact, but she didn't move away. "You won't know unless you _try_. But, you don't have to do it right away. Wait until you're ready,"

The pre-teen brunette bit her bottom lip, and gave a small nod, before she glanced up at Dinah again, fingering the arrowhead around her neck.

"Are we done?" Reese asked quietly, her voice barely more than a whisper, and Dinah sat back in her chair, knowing that Reese had said all she was going to. It wasn't worth keeping her if she wasn't going to speak.

"You can go," the blonde answered, and as Reese neared the door, Dinah called after her. "Send Conner in next, please,"

Reese nodded again before the automatic doors slid open, and she walked out. In the hallway, Reese leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath and clenching her eyes shut.

She figured she was reaching her quota for the number of days spent without sleeping. Reese knew that sleep deprivation couldn't directly kill you, but after a week, you start hallucinating, and she was nearing the seven-day mark.

She wished there was a way that she could get a good night's sleep without the nightmares. But, every time she closed her eyes, those memories would be there, and she couldn't do anything about it.

Everyone turned to look at her when Reese entered the common room again, and though she knew they were all feeling the same way--morose and slightly traumatized--it was still a bit creepy.

"Superboy," she said quietly, glancing towards the genomorph who had been sitting on the couch, staring listlessly at the TV static. "Your turn,"

Without a word, Conner stood up and went in the direction Reese had just come from, and after a moment, the brunette walked across the room to where Dick was sitting and sat down next to him.

"You okay?" Dick's voice was quiet, barely more than a breath, but Reese heard him anyway, and she glanced over. Robin's eyes were glimmering behind his sunglasses, and the--the _pain_ that Reese saw there made her heart twist into knots.

"No," she answered honestly because she wasn't. None of them were okay, not really. "But, I'm better,"

Reese knew it would take a long, _long_ time before any of them were _really_ okay, maybe they never would be, but the most they could do, aside from talking with Black Canary, was lean on each other, because they _all_ had gone through the same thing, and were really the only ones who knew what the other was feeling.

"That's good," Dick tried to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes, so Reese knew that he was acting more for her benefit, than for his own.

She stared at him for a moment, before she remembered what Dinah had said. There was _no_ way that Reese was planning on telling Dick her feelings anytime soon because A) right now was a _terrible_ time to do so, and B) unless she was blatantly put on the spot, she wouldn't say anything.

Reese was _definitely_ not confident enough to make the first move.

As if he could see the wheels turning inside her head, Dick scrunched his eyebrows together and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak, Conner stormed into the common room, and judging from the thunderous scowl on his face, his session with Dinah had _not_ gone well.

Superboy stalked right through the room and out the other door, towards the main cave, without saying a word to anybody, though whether or not anyone would have responded to the genomorph if he _had_ spoken, Reese wasn't sure.

Briefly, Reese wondered if she should stay in the common room, and let Conner blow off some steam himself, but then she mentally kicked herself. It didn't matter. Superboy was her friend, and Reese wanted to make sure he was okay. Though, the definition of the word ' _okay_ ' in this situation seemed to vary wildly.

She just wanted to make sure Conner didn't do anything dumb.

Quickly, and before she could chicken out of it, Reese kissed Dick's cheek, stood up from her spot, and walked out after Superboy.

She found both Conner and Wolf by the former's motorcycle, and it looked like they were getting ready to leave, though where they were going, Reese wasn't sure.

"Going somewhere?" Reese asked, standing a ways behind Superboy and the genetically engineered canine, and she was able to see the precise moment that Conner's entire body tensed.

"Yeah," he snapped. " _Out_ ," Then, Conner revved the engine of his bike, before nearing the ramp that led outside. "Red Tornado, hangar door,"

The door opened, and while Reese knew that Red Tornado (obviously), Captain Marvel, Martian Manhunter, and likely Batman, at this point, were all in Mount Justice along with Black Canary, the brunette was surprised that none of the older Leaguers had stopped him from leaving.

Of course, that was until Sphere rolled in front of Conner, beeping wildly.

"Sphere!" Conner exclaimed, waving an arm as Reese walked up next to Wolf. "Out of the way,"

But, the sentient alien ball that Superboy had brought home from Bialya didn't listen, instead, it only began to beep more wildly, before it... _unfurled_ , from it's, uh, _sphere-form_ and became some sort of large, super high-tech alien motorcycle-ship.

It was kind of hard to describe, but judging from the look on Conner's face, Reese figured he hadn't known that Sphere could do this either.

"You, uh," Conner's voice made Reese glance over, to see the genomorph rubbing the back of his neck and looking sheepish as he glanced at her. "You wanna come with?"

Reese blinked for a few seconds because it was only a moment or two before Superboy had bitten her head off for asking what he was doing.

But, at least he was making an effort to be nicer.

"Sure," Reese answered quietly, before pulling her phone out of her pocket and sending a quick text to Dick.

**To:** _Flying Grayson_  
 _Sphere went through some sort of metamorphosis_  
 _Conner's going for a spin_  
 _Be back soon_  
 _< 3_

Hopefully, that text, though it was pretty vague, wouldn't give the Boy Wonder a nervous breakdown, because that was the _last_ thing that Reese wanted right now. But, a second later, her phone buzzed again.

**From:** _Flying Grayson_  
 _???_  
 _Be safe_

Hoping that Dick's text was code for " _I'm not having an aneurysm because you disappeared_ ", Reese put her phone back in her pocket, before joining Conner in the new Sphere-Cycle.

"You ready?" Superboy asked, and Reese took a deep breath, before glancing over her shoulder at him.

"Yep," _No_. 

Maybe she had jumped the gun a bit when saying she wanted to come with. I mean, this was an _alien_ motorcycle, who knew what it could do? But, before Reese could back out and jump to the ground, Conner revved the engine, before the three of them (since Wolf had decided to come along as well) rocketed off into the sky.

_This..._ might have been a bad idea, Reese realized to herself as she, Wolf, and Conner flew higher up into the sky. 

But, it was too late to back off now, and Silverbird knew that Conner still needed to wind down from whatever he and Black Canary had talked about, so she was pretty much just along for the ride.

Hopefully, this didn't end badly.

**E A S T E R N S E A B O A R D**   
**October 23, 18:04 EDT**

Reese loved the ocean. 

Star City was on the West Coast, and every summer, before Roy had left, Oliver would take the three of them to the beach, and they would spend _hours_ just messing around. It had been, and was still, even though Roy obviously didn't come with anymore, one of Reese's favorite things to do.

Now though, she, Conner, and Wolf were flying over the Atlantic, and Reese closed her eyes as she felt the spray of the salty ocean water hit her face.

It was... _calming_ , almost, to be next to the water. Reese knew that water as a whole was generally a great stress-reliever, and after her therapy session with Dinah, Reese had _desperately_ needed this, to get away for a while, she just hadn't known it at the time.

"Let's see what our boy can do!" Conner exclaimed from behind her, and Wolf let out an almost agreeing-sounding bark. Superboy revved the engine again, and Sphere suddenly went in a loop, prompting Reese to let out a high-pitched squeak. "Sorry!" Conner said hurriedly as he straightened out again. "I forgot about the whole heights thing,"

"It's alright," Reese answered, using one hand to brush her hair away from where it had blown in her face from the wind. "Don't stop on my-- _whoa_!"

At Reese's shout, Superboy jerked the alien motorcycle to a stop when suddenly, a... _yep_ , that was a flying car, suddenly appeared in their path, and Conner had to jerk the handles to the side to avoid running into it.

The occupants of the flying car looked human-ish, but judging from the fact that they _had a flying car_ , Reese figured they were aliens. They were all dressed in vibrant colors too, leading Reese further to think that these people weren't from Earth.

One of the aliens, a man with dark brown skin and wearing teal-and-neon-green armor, was the first to speak.

"Return the New Genesphere," the man began sternly, making Reese quirk an eyebrow. "And the other technology you have stolen from New Genesis, humans,"

"Who are you?" Reese called out. She had no idea what this ' _New Genesphere_ ' was, but she knew she was no thief. "What do you--"

"Let's keep this simple," another one of the newcomers, a massive man with a fur vest and lavender tattoos interrupted Reese and suddenly pointed a finger towards her, Wolf, and Conner. No, not towards _them_ , Reese realized after a moment, but towards _Sphere_. " _That_ belongs to us. Give it back,"

Reese's eyes widened as the three other aliens stood up, reading for a fight, but Sphere buzzed for several seconds, before the small box-shaped object the dark-skinned man was holding dinged, and he stood up again, holding his hands out to stop his companions.

"Forever People, stand down!" he called out, as Reese glanced over her shoulder at Conner, mouthing ' _Forever People_?' to which the genomorph just shrugged. "These two did _not_ steal the New Genesphere. They _saved_ it from the real thieves!"

"We did?" Reese echoed, just as the fur-vest guy suddenly smiled, his whole demeanor changing from the belligerence it had been five seconds earlier.

"Apologies!" he exclaimed. "The Forever People embrace you as friends, allies, and worthy warriors,"

"You're kidding, right?" Conner asked, thoroughly not convinced, and Reese couldn't blame him, she was pretty skeptical about these newcomers herself.

Wolf even let out a disbelieving sounding whine but as the "Forever People" started to fly/drive away, Conner used the "New Genesphere", since apparently, that's what Sphere really was, to follow them.

"Forever People?" Reese asked after a moment, glancing towards the aliens from her spot, and the guy with the lavender tattoos began to explain.

"We're young gods," he began. " _New_ Gods,"

" _Right_..." Reese said slowly because even though she knew that this guy, whoever he was, was telling the truth, it was still a bit hard to believe. When Conner glanced at her, the brunette gave a small nod.

"They call me Serifan," One of the Forever People began, though why he spoke with an accent as if he were from the Old West, Reese had no idea.

"I'm Dreamer," a black-haired woman dressed in pink said, before gesturing to the others. "That's Moonrider, and our leader, Vykin,"

"Hmm," the guy with the lavender tattoos hummed after everyone else had been introduced. "I am named after an animal that does not exist on this world. But you may call me... _Wolf_ ,"

Reese tilted her head to the side as Conner gestured to Wolf (the dog, not the alien).

" _This_ is Wolf," the genomorph corrected as the canine let out a small growl, and Wolf (the alien, not the dog), held a finger up in the air.

"Ah," he said simply. "Bear, then. Bear is even better,"

"I'm Con--" Conner cut himself off before he could say his name, making Reese glance back at him. "Superboy,"

"Silverbird," Reese answered simply when everyone turned to look at her. If Superboy wasn't going to give away his identity, she wouldn't either, regardless of whether or not these Forever People were harmless. 

After a moment, Vykin held up the small rectangular box-shaped that he was holding.

"This," he began. "is Motherbox. The living computer," Motherbox dinged again, and Reese's brain was swimming from the whole ' _living computer_ ' part as Vykin continued with his explanation. "She has tracked technology stolen from our homeworld, New Genesis. She has found our rescue drill... _there_ ,"

Reese looked up to where Vykin pointed, and her eyes widened.

_Metropolis._

The Forever People's flying car circled above a construction site in the center of the city, and Reese, from her spot still inside Sphere, was able to see a massive hole in the ground.

"It is beneath us," Vykin said simply after Motherbox dinged again. "Eighteen meters underground,"

"That's a construction site," Superboy said, after he had studied the location for a moment, and glanced towards Reese. "That's a perfect cover for drilling,"

Reese nodded, jerking her head to the side as she noticed something else. "Especially since the Metropolis Federal Reserve is right across the street,"

Conner, even though he was technically only a few months old, knew what a Federal Reserve was, but the Forever People, on the other hand, looked totally confused.

"It's one of the places where the government stores their money," Reese explained after a moment, and Serifan suddenly stood up in his seat, twirling his blasters around as if he were some sort of sharpshooter.

"It's a _heist_ ," the god said as if he had just come to some sort of mind-blowing observation. "Come on partners. Let's ride in there, guns a' blazin' and round up them outlaws!" Reese raised an eyebrow, wondering if Serifan was trapped in some sort of time warp, just as Dreamer turned to face her and Conner.

"He's watched a lot of Earth Westerns," she explained, and Reese gave a small nod.

Well, that explained that.

"Look," she added after a moment. "There's a time to go in ' _guns a' blazin' '_ , but there are also other times, where you have to go in with a plan. _This_ is one of those times,"

"It is yours and Superboy's world, Silverbird," Vykin responded calmly. "We will follow your lead," 

Reese blinked, a bit surprised, before turning to Superboy, who looked as shocked as she did. Neither of them were used to being in charge, _ever_ , and to have _five literal gods_ say they'd follow _their_ lead?

And Reese thought admitting her feelings to Dick would be difficult.

"Uh...okay," she said after a moment. "Do any of you have any superpowers?"

Again, Dreamer was the one who gave explanations, only this time, instead of introductions, she told Conner and Reese exactly what abilities the Forever People possessed.

"I am able to create illusions and possess telepathy," the dark-haired woman began. "Moonrider can control energy, Vykin holds power over magnetism, while Serafin is an expert sharpshooter. Bear is also stronger than both New Gods and humans,"

"We'll need to go in stealthy," Conner piped up. "Dreamer, could you use your illusion power?"

The goddess nodded before Superboy landed Sphere out of sight of the few guards that Reese was able to see guarding the hole going underground, the Forever People landing their flying car a few feet away.

Then, Dreamer's form shimmered for a moment, before she looked like an older, middle-aged woman with dark hair. _That_ , Reese decided, was _really_ trippy.

"Norman!" the shifted Dreamer called out, prompting the three thugs guarding the hole to spin around and point their guns at her. "I brought you a jacket,"

"Mom?" one of the thugs asked as he lowered his gun, and Reese assumed he was the older lady's son. "What are you doing here?"

Before Dreamer answered, Moonrider shocked the two other guards, knocking them away and making _Norman_ spin around and point his gun at the newcomer.

"Mom, get down!" Norman shouted. "It's not..." he trailed off, because just then, Dreamer shifted back into her regular form, and in Norman's confusion, Vykin hit him in the face with his own gun a few times. 

Two seconds later, Norman joined his buddies on the ground, unconscious.

Suddenly _very_ glad that she had remembered to grab her bow and quiver before leaving the cave, Reese used a rappelling arrow to shimmy down the sheer sides of the hole, joining Wolf, Bear, and Conner a few seconds later, more guards unconscious at the others' feet.

Running forward, Reese crouched behind a nearby pile of dirt and, noticing that the massive hole led into a tunnel a few feet away, turned over her shoulder to the Forever People and held a finger to her lips, signaling them to be quiet.

The tunnel was surprisingly long, given that it was only, at most, two hundred feet between the construction site, and the federal reserve.

But, after a few minutes, Reese rounded a corner, only to skid to a stop and back up a few feet, poking her head around the corner again to see what she _assumed_ was the Forever People's rescue drill, having already broken through the basement of the reserve, with more criminals loading hovering carts full of gold bars into the back of the drill.

Towards the makeshift entrance of the reserve, Reese's eyes locked onto two people standing off to the side, and she grumbled under her breath.

So much for not giving Dick a nervous breakdown. Going up against _Intergang_ was bound to make Robin lose some sleep. Even more than usual, that is.

"What did you see?" Conner whispered from where he stood against the wall next to her, and Reese glanced up at the genomorph.

"Nothing good," she answered, just as Vykin bypassed them both, and stepped out into the open. " _Wait_!" Reese hissed, but the god ignored her.

"Guess we decided on the direct approach after all," Conner muttered, and Reese hissed a breath out from between her teeth before she and Superboy followed him. 

As they went, Silverbird pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt, covering her face. 

Because she hadn't been _planning_ on going up against a ring of international arms traffickers when she'd left Mount Justice earlier, the brunette hadn't thought to bring an extra domino mask, and as such, her identity was currently at risk.

She _seriously_ needed her own utility belt. Note to self: ask Dick for one for her birthday. 

...Or Christmas. 

But considering Reese's birthday did indeed fall on Christmas Eve, Dick, for some reason, always gave her twice as many presents.

Vykin finally stopped a few meters away from the Intergang squad, making the world-renowned criminals stop and stare at him. "That drill and these carts are the property of New Genesis," he said sternly. "You will return them _now_ ,"

"Gold goes back too," Conner added as he and Reese paused behind Vykin, and Whisper A'Daire, one of the Intergang members, started to walk towards them.

"Interfere," the red-haired woman hissed. "And things get ugly,"

" _I'm_ Ugly," her companion added, before the blaster on his chest expanded, and several red disks flew out towards the heroes.

Raising his hand, Vykin made a wall of earth appear, and it blocked a few of the disks. Vykin then pushed Conner and Reese backward out of the way, just as more of the disks surrounded him, trapping the New God in a net of red electricity, and judging from Vykin's reaction, it was very, _very_ painful.

After a few seconds, Vykin collapsed to the ground, and the disks started flying towards the others again.

Conner and Reese dove out of the way, just before Silverbird jumped into a crouch, drawing back her bowstring and letting three arrows fly at once, knocking a few of the disks away from where they flying through the air, just as Serafin took out his blasters and shot a few more where they had been hovering above Bear.

Moonrider tried to get Vykin free, but a disk hit him in the back, just before Vykin made a sphere of dirt surround him.

Then, Whisper took out two small batons from behind her back, and flicked them, making twin whips made of red fire appear out of thin air.

What weapons was New Genesis _making_?

But, as it turns out from Dreamer's statement a few seconds later, these weapons _weren't_ from New Genesis. They were from someplace different. Someplace... _worse_.

"These weapons _aren't_ from New Genesis," Dreamer began as both Reese and Conner stared at the Intergang agents in shock and horror. "They are of...the _enemy_ ,"

"What enemy?" Conner asked, and Dreamer turned to face him and Reese. 

" _The_ enemy," the other woman corrected. "The gods of Anti-Life. These weapons are of _Apokolips_ ,"

A planet with a name meaning the end of the world. 

_...Great_.

As Vykin continued to write in pain on the ground, still trapped by those red disks, Bear ran forward, intent on defeating (or destroying) Intergang, but two of the agents, whose hands were covered by some sort of ball, suddenly slammed them to the ground, and where they hit, the packed dirt turned to liquid mud, and Bear was caught right in the middle of it.

He sank to his chest in a matter of milliseconds, just as Serifan shot the disks above Vykin, freeing the Forever People's leader.

Vykin joined the others as Conner struggled to get Bear out of the mud, just as Whisper leaped over the heads of her colleagues, lashing her whips through the tunnel, and Vykin was only just able to block them with a wall of dirt.

"The confines of this tunnel favor their weapons," he said simply, just as Conner heaved, managing to pull Bear out of the mud. "We must bring this battle out in the open,"

After Bear was freed, Conner turned towards the sphere of dirt, and dug away at it, freeing Moonrider, before all eight of them sprinted towards the bottom of the hole.

"There's more room at the top!" Bear shouted as he vaulted everyone to the top of the hole.

Reese was one of the last to go, Wolf being launched just before her, and as she entered the bottom of the hole, she heard a rushing sound, and turned back to see two ropes of fire heading straight towards her.

She froze. Reese froze, and she wasn't able to move out of the way before they hit her. It was just...the _flames_.

Before the brunette got roasted alive, Conner leaped in front of Reese, crossing his arms and taking the blow meant for her.

"...Thanks," Reese said quietly, feeling her heart pound, and Conner sent her a small smile before they both ran over to where Bear was still waiting.

Bear made a brace with his hands, and Reese put her boot in it, just as she was launched into the air, landing in a roll on the surface again, just as Bear and Conner joined her, both of them using their own super-jumps to reach the surface.

"I have no wish to prolong this battle," Vykin said once Superboy had joined them, just as the ground behind him rumbled, and they all stumbled back as the rescue drill appeared from underground.

"Finish them," Ugly muttered, and as Reese backed away, she thought to herself: _Yes, he is_ _very_ _ugly_.

"Do not worry," Vykin piped up again. "She will protect us?"

" _Excuse_ me?" Reese asked, staring over her shoulder, as Conner's eyes flicked between her and the Forever People.

"Who, Dreamer?" the genomorph asked.

"The New Genesphere," Vykin answered instead, just as Conner's flying alien motorcycle appeared in the air, shooting blasts of blue energy towards Intergang.

" _Cool_ ," Conner breathed before he realized what Vykin had said. "Wait, Sphere's a she?"

"Apparently," Reese added, content to stand back and watch as Sphere absolutely _decimated_ the Intergang thugs.

"It is time," Vykin spoke up again, and Conner and Reese exchanged a glance before Superboy turned towards the Forever People.

"Time for _what_?" he asked, sounding remarkably impatient, though that wasn't anything new, and this time, Reese felt the same way. The two of them needed answers. _Now._

But, Vykin didn't answer, _again_. Instead, he only held his Motherbox up in the air, and the rest of the Forever People held a fist in the air.

They all shouted in unison, _"Taru!"_ before then... _merging_. The light was so bright, Reese had to shield her eyes, but when it dissipated, in the place of the Forever People stood a massive yellow and blue robot.

"Okay..." Conner began quietly as the robot-like... _thing_ began to walk heavily towards Intergang. "That's _new_ ,"

When the criminals noticed it, they made the dirt turn to mud again, but the Forever People-robot just hovered above it, before shooting literal _lasers_ out of its eyes and disintegrating the mud-making weapons in a second.

Ugly and another Intergan member, along with Whisper, ran forward, but when Ugly and the other guy shot more of the red disks towards the robot, it made them disappear in a flash with one hand, while with the other hand, it sent a sonic blast that made all of them fly backward.

Reese had to admit, she was jealous.

Whisper tried to wrap her whips around the robot, but it caught the twin ropes of flame in either hand, before shooting more lasers out of its eyes and disintegrating them as a whole. Another sonic blast and Whisper was knocked across the construction yard.

Reese narrowed her eyes as she saw Ugly and the others who had been knocked down from the first sonic blast suddenly stand to their feet.

Ugly held something up in his hand, which dinged, much like Motherbox did, only this was lower in pitch, just as a big yellow... _something_ opened up, and Ugly and the others walked through it, disappearing.

Whisper tried to follow, but she was tied up when the Forever People-robot locked a bola around her waist, trapping her arms against her sides and stopping her from moving very far.

Then, with a wave of its hand, the robot made the rescue drill disappear in the same sort of yellow portal thing that Ugly had just used to transport him and his men.

To say that Reese was thoroughly confused would be a gross understatement.

Then, the robot glowed again, before it disappeared, and the five Forever People were in its place once more, walking back towards Reese and Conner.

Superboy was the first to speak.

"What was _that_?" the genomorph asked, and Reese was surprised that he had waited this long before starting his barrage of questions.

"Infinity Man," Dreamer answered simply, though really, that didn't clear up much. "We merged to become one with the Source, and greater than the sum of our parts,"

_Well_ , Reese thought to herself as she crossed her arms. _That makes absolutely zero sense_.

"Glad our team's not that close," Conner muttered to her, and Reese huffed out a breath.

"No kidding," she answered. She loved her teammates, really, but Reese also valued her _own_ privacy.

As it were, Bear heard what Conner said anyway.

"Lower beings tend to fear intimacy," the muscled god piped up, making Reese quirk an eyebrow at him before Vykin spoke again.

"None of this makes any sense," he began, bracing his fingers against his chin. "How are these humans acquiring technology from both New Genesis and Apokolips?"

"Well," Reese said slowly, poking her head around the Forever People to where Whisper still sat on the ground. "One of them didn't get away,"

As they walked up to the redhead, the woman sent them all a scathing glare.

"I'm not talking," she muttered, but Dreamer just steepled her fingers against her forehead.

" _You_ were not asked," the goddess said simply, and after a moment, along with a wince of pain from Whisper, a wisp of smoke appeared out of her head, eventually forming into a smoky version of someone a _lot_ uglier than the guy actually _named_ Ugly. "Desaad," Dreamer muttered before Superboy finally lost his patience.

"Look," the genomorph began. "I've been _remarkably_ patient. You know, for me? _What_ is going on? Silverbird and I deserve some answers, don't you think?"

As the Forever People glanced at each other, Reese thought that maybe, she and Conner wouldn't get told anything, before finally, after a nod from Vykin, Dreamer sighed, and braced her fingers against her temples, making another mental image appear out in the open, this one of two planets circling each other.

One of them looked a lot similar to Earth, and judging from the Forever People, Reese assumed this one was New Genesis. That meant the other one, the planet that looked like the sun, had to be Apokolips.

It even _looked_ apocalyptic.

"The New Gods come from two worlds at war," Dreamer began. "Those of us from New Genesis are gods of life, freedom, and the Source. Our enemies from Apokolips are gods of anti-life, slavery, and degradation. _This_ ," Dreamer turned to where the smoky image of this _Desaad_ character still hovered. "is Desaad, god-scientist, and chief torture of Apokolips. His experiments are pure evil, his works: abominations, and his master..."

" _Unspeakable_ ," the Desaad illusion murmured, before cackling in a way that made Reese's entire body shudder.

Dreamer waved her hand, and the smoke dissipated, as Whisper stared over her shoulder at where it used to be, a split second before the Intergang agent spoke.

"He is _seriously_ creepy,"

➳➳➳

"Hurting?" Dick whispered as he sat across from Dinah in Mount Justice. "Try traumatized. I--I finally become Leader and wind up sending all of my friends to their _deaths._ I--I _know_ I did what I had to, but I _hated_ it. When we started this team, I was desperate to be in charge. But, not anymore. And..." the Boy Wonder trailed off for a moment, before looking back up towards Black Canary. "You can't tell Batman about this,"

"Nothing leaves this room," Dinah answered simply, and Dick stared down at his shoes as he continued. 

"I always wanted... _expected_ to grow up and--and _become_ him. And the hero bit?" the black-haired boy added, glancing up for a second. "I'm still all in. But that thing? Inside of him? The thing that-that _drives_ him to sacrifice _everything_ for the sake of his mission? That's not me. I don't want to be _the_ Batman anymore,"

For a moment, Black Canary thought that Robin was done talking, because, like Reese, though he was normally exuberant and full of energy, when Dick Grayson shut down, he _shut down_.

Curling up in on himself and erecting metaphorical walls to protect himself from the outside world.

"What did she say?" Dick's voice was quiet, and Dinah almost didn't hear him. But she did, and Black Canary didn't need to ask to know who he was talking about. "When you talked to her,"

"Dick..." Dinah said slowly. "You know I can't tell you that,"

"I know," he said quietly, staring down at her shoes. "But, I just want to know what Reese was thinking when she..." Dick trailed off, and Dinah almost thought he wouldn't continue when he suddenly shot up from his chair. "What was she _thinking_?"

Dick was angry. But not at Reese, not entirely. He was angry at the fact that she had _sacrificed_ herself for him, and that she had done it without a second thought.

"Dick," Dinah said again. "You know I can't tell you everything that Reese said, but I can tell you this. She didn't want to _lose_ you,"

"Doesn't she get it though?" Dick asked, his voice bordering on a shout as he began to pace in front of his chair. "She didn't lose _me!_ I lost _her!_ I lost her and I couldn't--I couldn't _save_ her, or tell her _anything_ ,"

It was a few seconds before Dinah realized that Dick's entire body was shaking, and he slumped back down in his chair, bringing his knees up to his chin and burying his head between them, in a pose eerily similar to the one Reese had been in a few hours earlier.

"I couldn't _tell_ her..."

➳➳➳

Vykin and Motherbox had tracked Ugly and his goons to an airfield, and now Reese, Wolf, and Conner stood with the rest of the Forever People outside one of the hangars.

"Motherbox says there is a large cache of Apokoliptan technology _inside_ ," Vykin whispered, nodding his head towards the hangar, and Conner, Wolf, and Reese all turned to face that general direction.

"Infrared vision shows no heat signatures," Superboy said after a moment, and Silverbird assumed he had tried to see inside. "Even so..."

"You have a bad feeling?" Reese asked, but Conner just shrugged.

"I don't know," he answered simply. "But, we should still check it out. Wouldn't want those Apoko-whatevers falling into the wrong hands,"

"Dreamer," Reese asked, glancing over her shoulder at the Forever People. "Can you disguise us?"

The goddess gave a nod, before waving her hand. Assuming that the eight of them were now relatively hidden, the two Team members, Wolf, and the Forever People walked towards the hangar.

The lofty building was dark, and even Reese was barely able to see anything. She stuck close to Superboy as Conner started to move through the hangar, but after a few seconds, the genomorph stopped.

"Still no heat signatures," he muttered, before glancing towards Dreamer. "The place is _definitely_ deserted,"

But, it seemed as if Conner had spoken too soon, because just then, right after Dreamer dropped the illusion surrounding them, the lights inside the hangar flickered on, revealing Ugly and a _lot_ more thugs than before standing in front of them, and all of them were holding the same Apokoliptan weapons as before.

This was an ambush. And Reese and Conner.. _._ had walked right into it.

"Though I _could_ be wrong," Superboy muttered as he stared at the gathered criminals, and Reese drew an arrow, ready to fight, if necessary.

"This tech masks heat signatures," Ugly explained as he walked forward, pointing to the small flat scope mounted to the blaster on his chest. "Visor filters out illusions. _We gotcha_ ,"

Then, everything exploded. Not _literally_ , but Ugly shot a disk towards the intruders, and while everyone managed to dodge, the disk hit a crate behind where Reese had been standing, and _that_ exploded.

Reese let go of her arrow once she had rolled out of the way, and it flew through the air, hitting one of the mechanisms of another Intergang's thug's blaster, and making the weapon explode in his face.

Conner jabbed at a thug holding a spear, bending it in two, and then hitting the criminal with it, making him fly backward, deeper into the warehouse.

Deciding that inside this warehouse, though it was large enough, wasn't really the best place for her bow, Reese took out her staff instead, and split it in two, and spun around, lifting her foot in the air and kicking a thug in the temple, and making him drop like a rock.

"These weapons resist my magnetic power," Vykin muttered a few feet away from Reese, as he struggled to rip Intergang's weapons from their hands. "We will soon be overrun. It is time,"

The Forever People ran to regroup, and Bear glanced towards Silverbird and Superboy, just as Reese flipped a thug over from where he was aiming at Conner.

Sure, the Kryptonian genomorph was indestructible, but if these Apokoliptan weapons could hurt a _god_ , then what else could they do?

"This won't take long!" Bear shouted, and Conner glanced over at him.

"Go!" Conner shouted before he punched another thug in the face. "Silverbird and I got this!"

With that, Bear ran to join his comrades, just as Vykin held Motherbox up in the air. With another one of their unified shouts, the Forever People again turned into a golden light.

But, just before Infinity Man was fully formed, something...went wrong. Instead of the massive blue-and-gold robot, instead, the gold turned to an angry-looking red, and the blue turned to a dark, smoke-like gray.

Whatever had just happened, Reese knew that it was _not_ good.

Then, something else happened. Not with Infinity Man, though he still looked like he wanted to squash Reese and Conner as if they were bugs.

No, this time something happened with Reese herself.

She was staring up as Infinity Man bore down on her and Superboy, when suddenly, Reese's vision split. 

It wasn't like double vision when you stare at something for a long time and then you see two of it. It was more like, one side was the warehouse, where she was with Conner and the two of them were currently about to get stepped on, and the other side (and feel free to call Reese crazy when this is all over) was the common room, back in the cave, though everything on _that_ side seemed to be tinted a few shades darker than normal.

For a moment, all Reese could do was blink in shock, because she was _thoroughly_ freaked out, before, on the Mount Justice side of her vision, Wally appeared, looking a bit skittish.

" _Hey, Rob_ ," the speedster began, setting off a metaphorical explosion inside Reese's head. " _You okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost_ ,"

Holy actual _crap_ , she was looking through Dick's eyes. 

How this was happening, Reese had no sane clue, and she might have started to hyperventilate a bit as Dick spoke, sounding as if he were right next to her, not hours away in Happy Harbor.

" _I'm fine_ ," Robin said simply, though Reese noticed that his voice sounded a bit strangled, and she figured he was having the same difficulties she was in trying to figure out what was going on.

Then, Reese turned towards Superboy, who had turned to face her at the same time, nodding his head towards the color-inverted Infinity Man.

" _That_ can't be good," the genomorph muttered before he focused his gaze on Reese's face, and his eyes widened. "Reese..." he began slowly. "Your eyes...they're _gold_ ,"

" _Look,_ " Dick began again, but judging from Conner's reaction, he couldn't hear him _._ " _I don't know what's going on, but you and SB need to get out of there right now. Right now, Rhysalin!_"

"We have to move!" Reese exclaimed, looking back towards Conner, and the genomorph sent her a dry look. 

"Yeah, no kidding," he retorted, but before either of them could move, Infinity Man's hand was flying towards them.

It grabbed both Reese and Conner and _threw_ them out the hangar's door. Reese screamed, and her vision snapped back to normal, whatever way she had been seeing through Dick's eyes...it suddenly disappeared.

"Conner!" she shouted as they neared the ground, and Superboy grabbed her, the genomorph taking the brunt of the impact when they hit the ground, close to where the New Genesphere was parked, along with the Forever People's flying car.

If he hadn't shielded her, Reese likely would've been killed. Because unlike him, _she_ wasn't invincible.

As she looked back towards the hangar, Reese's vision split again, and this time, the other side showed that Dick was sprinting through the cave. After a second, the Boy Wonder ran into the room he used at the cave whenever he needed to stay the night and stood in front of the bathroom mirror.

He had been wearing his sunglasses the first time, Reese realized. That was why it had seemed darker. Now though, she was able to see Dick's eyes fully, since he was facing his reflection, and what the brunette saw was _uber-weird_.

Now she knew what Conner meant when he said her eyes had turned gold.

Dick's irises weren't navy blue anymore. Now, his eyes seemed to be colored like molten metal, and they almost seemed to glow under the bathroom's fluorescent lighting.

This was both super cool, and _really_ creepy.

" _Where are you_?" Dick asked, staring at himself in the mirror, and Reese pushed herself off of Conner and onto the ground, taking a deep breath before she spoke.

"Out--Outside Metropolis," she said quietly, and judging from the way Dick's eyes widened after she spoke, he was able to hear her. Thank _God_.

A tap on her shoulder made Reese turn around, to see Conner standing behind her, the genomorph pulling himself to his feet and bracing against Sphere, just as Wolf leaped out of the hangar.

The three of them turned towards the hangar again, just as the evil Infinity Man crumpled the sliding doors as if they were nothing more than flimsy toothpicks.

" _And that thing_?"

"Evil alien robot," Reese answered simply, just as Conner glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"Who are you talking to?" he asked, and Reese blinked, wondering, for a few seconds, what she should say.

But, before she _could_ say anything, Sphere, from where she was still parked behind the three of them, made a whirring noise, and Conner looked over his shoulder.

"We'll take him down together," the genomorph said, getting into a ready stance, and Reese sent him a look.

"You're not seriously thinking of taking that thing down _alone,_ are you?" she asked, and Conner stared at her.

"You have a better idea?" he retorted, and Reese glanced over at where Sphere suddenly turned back _into_ a sphere and subsequently rolled away.

"Yeah," she answered simply. " _Run_!"

Before any of them could move, Reese, Conner, and Wolf had to dodge, just before Infinity Man's fist landed heavily on the cement, where they had been standing mere seconds before.

They _really_ should've called for backup, and because Reese's vision had stopped going double again (this thing was really fickle), it looked like she, Superboy, and Wolf were on their own.

Reese had also decided, not for the first time, that, as Conner got thrown into the tail of a nearby airplane, she really, _really_ hated to fly.

The petite brunette ran over to the genomorph as Conner pushed Wolf off of him since the enhanced canine had been thrown into a few seconds before.

Conner took the end of one of the airplane's wings and ripped it off, throwing it towards Infinity Man as Reese let out a scream, the Canary Cry giving the wing a boost, and shooting it towards the alien robot even faster.

But, Infinity Man only had to shoot a single laser blast out of his eyes before the wing was destroyed, and then, Infinity Man held up a hand, making it glow.

There was a rumble from behind her, and Reese turned around, eyes wide, to see that the airplane was levitating up in the air, a faint colored aura around it.

Superboy dove on top of Reese, shielding her again, just before the airplane was slammed down on top of them.

Then, when the airplane was thrown to the side, Reese and Conner were picked up in one of Infinity Man's hands, and when he squeezed, Reese heard one of her ribs crack.

Wolf tried to leap at Infinity Man, but the contaminated robot just flung him aside, before slamming Reese and Conner into the ground again.

How she was still alive, Reese wasn't sure. But, through the haze of pain that came from having multiple broken ribs and getting slammed into cement, she saw Sphere jump up into the air, turn into a _bug_ , and slam her tail into the base of Infinity Man's head.

Miraculously, the red and dark gray started to bleed out, as they were overtaken, once more, by blue and gold.

Conner stumbled to his feet, watching as Sphere cleansed Infinity Man.

"Sphere, you're _beautiful_!" Superboy exclaimed before he leaped into the air and onto the back of the Sphere-bug.

Then, grabbing the handles that had appeared on top of Sphere's head, and using them to effectively _steer_ Infinity Man, using him to defeat the few Intergang thugs that were left.

Ugly and his goons ended up in their underpants, and Desaad, who actually _had_ been there, rather than a smoky illusion, then threw something towards Conner and Infinity Man.

Infinity blocked it with some eye lasers, but the object, which had to be some sort of bomb, suddenly detonated, the blast so massive that it made Infinity Man turn back into the Forever People.

Reese was sure she must have blacked out at some point because when she blinked her eyes open again, the Forever People were back, looking a bit dazed, but Sphere...Sphere was the one in the most trouble.

The pillbug was crumpled, and black oil, almost like blood, oozed out from between the broken plating.

"She's... _hurt_ ," Conner began as he lay a hand on Sphere's surface, and Reese frowned as Vykin walked up to them, his face grave.

"The damage may be beyond repair," the god said slowly, before holding up the Motherbox. "But, Motherbox will try,"

Setting the Motherbox down on one of the red plates covering Sphere's "body", Vykin stepped back, just before Sphere rolled up again, turning back into a ball.

"The healing process has begun," Vykin said after a moment. "And will be completed on New Genesis,"

Conner whipped his head towards Vykin, eyes wide, and even Reese was feeling a little bit shocked at the moment.

"Sorry, _what_?" the genomorph asked, turning around, but Vykin's expression didn't change, as the rest of the Forever People walked up.

"We thank you for your help, Superboy, Silverbird," Dreamer began. "But, we must take the New Genesphere home now,"

"No," Conner answered, still standing in front of Sphere. "No way,"

"Superboy's right," Reese added, wincing as she held her ribs. "Sphere's staying with us,"

"Why should we leave her with you two?" Serifan snapped from his spot beside Bear. "To _us_ , she lives. To _you_ , she's merely technology,"

"No!" Superboy retorted, "It's not like that--"

"Then what is it like?" Bear asked gruffly, crossing his arms, and this is when Conner finally snapped.

"We bonded okay?" he shouted, but instead of getting angry, the Forever People relaxed.

"In fact," Vykin began, tilting his head to the side and giving a small smile, "It is. You may keep her,"

Then Vykin reached forward, and clasped forearms with first Conner, and then Reese. But, before the Forever People left, Dreamer stopped in front of Reese.

"I am a telepath," the goddess began softly, staring down at the brunette. "But I can also heal you. If you will allow me,"

Reese was a bit wary, but she didn't want to be put on bed rest _again_ for the next month, so she gave a small nod, before Dreamer gently set a hand on Reese's forehead.

A wave of warmth spread throughout Reese's entire body, and when it dissipated, her ribs didn't hurt anymore.

"Thank you," Reese said quietly, and Dreamer sent the girl a small smile, before stepping back again.

Now, it was time to go home.

➳➳➳

Robin was waiting when Superboy flew Sphere into the cave and judging from the way Dick skidded to a stop as soon as Conner did, Reese had a feeling he had been pacing.

Dick blinked at Sphere's new motorcycle form for a few seconds before he wrapped Reese up in a hug so tight that he threatened to squeeze all the breath out of her.

"Don't _ever_ do that to me again, pretty bird," he whispered in her ear, and Reese gave a small smile as she wrapped her arms around Dick's shoulders, hugging him back with every ounce of her strength.

When they finally stepped away from each other, Superboy was staring at Robin with a skeptical look on his face.

"Please don't hug me," he muttered, and Reese couldn't help but let out a small laugh, her first _real_ laugh in over a week.

A second later, Wally sped in, and his eyes widened as he took in Conner's new motorcycle. 

"Whoa!" the redhead exclaimed, eyes wide as saucers. "What is _that_?"

" _That_ ," Reese began from her spot next to Robin as the rest of the Team walked in. "Is Sphere,"

Kid Flash sent her a dry look. "You're kidding," he muttered, but Reese only shook her head.

"Nope," she answered simply. "I'm serious,"

As Wally began to run around Sphere, inspecting every inch of her and pronouncing that " _Sphere is now the Super-Cycle, FYI"_ , Dick leaned down towards Reese again.

"What happened to you two?" he asked quietly, and Reese glanced at him, sighing.

"It is a long, _long_ story," she began, and Dick sent her a small smile. This time, it _did_ reach his eyes.

"I have time, pretty bird," he told her, and Reese gave a small nod.

"Okay," she said quietly, before meeting his eyes behind his sunglasses, the irises back to their usual navy blue. "Hot chocolate at my house? You can tell Batman everything that happened later,"

Dick gave a small nod, and as everyone else crowded around Conner, Wolf, and the "Super-Cycle", Dick and Reese backed up, stealing through the Zeta tube before anyone could notice their sudden absence.

**_Recognized Robin B-0-1, Silverbird B-0-3_ **

Both of them were still healing from the effects of the training simulation, and they also needed to figure out what had gone on with the whole ' _looking through each other's eyes_ ' thing earlier. 

But, as Dick slipped his hand into hers as the two of them made their way down the sidewalk in the twilight of Star City, Reese decided that, for now, she was just glad to have Dick by her side.


	24. 22. Secrets

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
October 31, 19:34 EDT**

Wally was very much channeling his inner Wolfman this Halloween.

Reese glanced up from where she had been sitting cross-legged on the floor of the cave, lightly sketching out an eagle in her sketchbook, as KF tilted his head back and gave a loud howl.

Wolf, though, who was snoring a few feet away, didn't even react, and Wally sent the canine a dry look.

"Seriously?" the redhead asked. "You're not going to join in at all? What kind of wolf _are_ you?"

"Wally, stop torturing him," Superboy muttered to the speedster from where he was sitting on a table, fidgeting as M'gann wrapped gauze around his head, trying to turn the genomorph into some sort of mummy.

"Hold still, please," Miss Martian told her boyfriend, as Wally walked up next to her, gesturing to Superboy.

" _Megan_ ," he said, sounding vaguely admonishing, and Reese flicked her eyes up again. "Stop torturing him. _Awkward_ for him anyway," he hissed from behind his hand. "Being the third wheel on our date,"

Reese rolled her eyes, wondering how exactly it was that Wally _still_ hadn't figured out that M'gann and Conner were dating. They'd been together for almost two months, already, and pretty much everyone knew except for Wally.

"Wally," the martian told him. "I invited the _whole_ team to the dance. Zatanna too,"

" _Good_ ," Wally continued, and Reese swore she almost face-palmed. "Keeps _us_ on the down-low," Conner looked increasingly put-out as he rolled his eyes, and Reese could barely hold in her giggles. 

A small part of her felt bad for Wally, for what he'd feel when he _did_ find out that Megan and Conner were dating, but until then, she was fairly content to see the speedster embarrass himself, even if he had no idea why.

" _So_ ," Kid Flash added a few seconds later, still gazing at M'gann. "You going as my favorite martian?"

"Not exactly," she answered, walking a few feet away. Then, much like before the Team had gone up against Mister Twister, color flooded up M'gann's entire body, before she was dressed in an insanely accurate-looking zombie bride costume.

Reese was impressed, though she figured if whatever you wore was dictated by your thoughts, your clothes or costumes could be as accurate as you wanted them to be.

"Whoa..." Wally trailed off, scratching the back of his head. "Babe, eat my brains anytime,"

"That's a really cool costume, M'gann," Reese spoke up for the first time, closing her sketchbook and setting down on the floor before standing up. "Zombie bride. _Very_ Halloween-y,"

"Your costume's gorgeous too, Reese," Miss M responded, sending the brunette a smile, and Reese blushed, looking down at her shoes. "Where'd you get it?"

This year, Rhysalin Queen had decided to dress up as an angel for Halloween, complete with a silvery-white knee-length dress with flowy sleeves, large feathered wings, and a halo headband. It was one of her better costumes, even though it had taken almost six months to finish, meaning she'd had to be sure what she wanted to be back in April.

But, considering Halloween was one of Reese's favorite holidays, she didn't really mind.

"Actually," Reese began, still staring at her feet. "I, uh, I made it," 

When no one said anything for a few seconds, Reese glanced up, to see both M'gann and Conner staring at her, eyes wide. Wally already knew, so he was standing behind the couple, arms crossed, looking smug.

"Seriously?" Superboy asked, raising an eyebrow, and Reese gave a small nod, just before M'gann started gushing.

"Oh my gosh, you are _amazing_!" the martian flew forward and almost crushed Reese with the subsequent hug she gave, and when M'gann stepped away, a few feathers fell off Reese's wings. "I should've asked you to make my costume,"

"It's not a big deal," Reese mumbled, looking down at her shoes again. "I don't design clothes all that often. Just for special occasions,"

"But, you're so _good_!" Megan gushed again, her grin threatening to overpower her face. "You should definitely do this more often,"

"I don't know, M'gann..." Reese trailed off, a bit embarrassed at all the attention, just as she heard Captain Marvel's ever-exuberant voice echo as he entered the cave.

"Great minds think alike!" the Leaguer exclaimed, his face painted to look like... _something_. 

Honestly, Reese wasn't sure what he was supposed to be. She didn't mean to sound callous, but the facepaint looked as if it had been applied by a child.

"Captain, you look terrific!" M'gann told him as she turned around, though Reese was able to detect the underlying tone of falsehood. 

Miss Martian was lying.

"Are you going to a Halloween party too?" Reese asked as she walked up next to M'gann and tilted her head to the side. Captain Marvel's smile dropped, and he turned to look at both girls, seeming a little bit shocked.

"Well, sure," he began. "I'm going with--I mean, you did invite the _whole_ Team, right?"

Reese could've face-palmed again. 

It wasn't that she didn't like Captain Marvel, he was actually more laid-back than the other members of the Justice League, but if sending him along with them to the dance was Batman's way of keeping an eye on all of them, Reese thought Bruce's tactics were sorely lacking.

M'gann, though, didn't seem to detect the fact that Captain Marvel wanted to come with them.

"Yeah," the martian continued. "We'll all be at the dance. So, don't worry about us, go. Have a good time at your party,"

"Uh, M'gann..." Reese gently tugged on the martian's arm, hoping to gain M'gann's attention long enough to tell her that Captain Marvel wanted to come to Happy Harbor's dance, but before she could, the Zeta tube turned on, gaining _everybody's_ attention.

**_Recognized Artemis B-0-8, Zatanna Zatara A-0-3_ **

Reese hadn't seen Zatanna since the Team had rescued Red Tornado, and she had missed the other girl dearly. As it were, Zatanna was dressed as a witch, and Artemis a vampire, but both costumes looked great.

"Oh, hey, Zatanna," Artemis greeted the black-haired girl as they both exited different tubes. "You look great," 

"Oh, thanks," Zatanna answered. "You too. Oh, look," the young magician added as she and Artemis reached the rest of the group, Zatanna's eyes landing on the Leaguer in the room. " _Zombie_ Captain Marvel. That's hilarious. Is the Justice League having a party, because my dad didn't mention it?"

"I didn't hear anything about a League party," Reese added from where she now stood beside Zatanna, having wandered around the entire room. "I doubt _Batman_ would want a rambunctious Halloween party, though,"

"No!" Marvel exclaimed. "No, no, no! See, I'm... _fine_!" he said after stammering for a moment, making Reese quirk an eyebrow. " _I'm_ going trick-or-treating," he leaped over the heads of Reese, Artemis, and Zatanna, before landing in front of the Zeta tubes. "And I'm _not_ sharing my candy,"

**_Recognized Captain Marvel 1-5_ **

The three girls nearest to the tubes stared at where Captain Marvel had disappeared for a few seconds, before Artemis turned to Reese, smirking.

"Love the angel costume, Reese," she began, eyes glimmering with mirth. "Robin dressing up as the devil?"

"Funny," Reese deadpanned, crossing her arms. "Actually, though, Robin's not dressing up at all, because tonight he had something else planned,"

The "something else" being talking with Red Arrow, Batman, Aqualad, and Red Tornado about whether or not there was still a mole on the Team. Dick had asked her if she wanted to come, but Reese had said she'd had enough of the mole business. India was proof enough of that.

Artemis looked like she wanted to ask Reese what Robin's "something else" _was_ , but the sound of laughing cut the blonde off before she could speak, and she turned, along with Reese and Zatanna, to see that M'gann was still trying to wrap makeshift bandages around Conner's face.

"So..." Zatanna began slyly, leaning over to the two other girls as she stared at Superboy and Miss Martian. "How long have Conner and _Megan_ been a couple?"

The question was innocent enough, but it suddenly reminded Reese that Artemis was the only other one on the team, aside from Wally, obviously, who hadn't known about the couple.

It also probably didn't help that she was still crushing on Superboy.

" _Couple_?" Artemis let out a scoffing laugh, obviously in disbelief. "No, they're not..."

She trailed off, glancing again towards M'gann and Conner, just as Miss Martian let out a small laugh.

"Will you _please_ stop fidgeting?" she asked, and though her voice was quiet, Reese was able to hear it if she listened carefully.

"You are _so_ making this up to me later," Conner added, and Reese turned back to Artemis just as the blonde's face turned stern, and she scowled.

As Artemis started to stalk away, Reese leaned over to Zatanna so she'd be able to whisper in her ear. "About two months, give or take," the brunette hissed, and the other girl gave a small nod before both of them ran after Artemis, catching up to her fairly quickly.

"I'm sorry," Zatanna said as she matched her strides to Artemis's. "It just seemed so obvious. I didn't realize--hey, wait," she added as Artemis went to enter the Zeta tube. "What about the dance?"

"Not in the mood," Artemis answered grumpily as she crossed her arms, before glancing to the side. "Of course, sitting at home with my mom doesn't sound any _more_ appealing,"

"Well," Zatanna began, making both Reese and Artemis glance over at her. "There is another option," Before Reese could ask what the other option was, Zatanna waved her hands. "Egnahc sehtolc otni ruo smrofinu,"

There was a flash of light, and when Reese waved away the smoke that was hovering in front of her face and looked down, she saw that she was dressed in her Silverbird suit, complete with her bow and quiver across her back.

"Girls' night out," Zatanna said simply, and when Artemis smiled, Reese had a feeling that tonight was about to get a _lot_ more interesting.

**M A N H A T T A N  
October 31, 19:57 EDT**

Twenty minutes later, Silverbird, Artemis, and Zatanna erupted out of one of the New York Zeta tubes on their motorcycles, and Reese was itching for some action.

Because Artemis desperately needed to let off some steam.

➳➳➳

Back at the cave, Robin was sitting in a chair inside the same room Dinah had used to give her trauma assessments, and he thought this whole "is there a mole on the team?" thing was wholly unnecessary.

If there _was_ a mole on the Team, wouldn't they have betrayed them already?

But, Batman thought having a conversation about it was needed, so here Dick was, with Kaldur, Roy, Bruce, and Red Tornado, and feeling thoroughly bored.

Zira was sitting in the chair with him, the baby gorilla playing with one of the Boy Wonder's gloves, and Dick was just hoping she didn't accidentally set off the Cave's security measures or something.

"Computer, secure the room," Batman said firmly, before turning to the other heroes gathered. "I'll cut to it," he began. "Do we believe there is a mole within the Team?"

"I am convinced there is none," Aqualad said simply as he walked forward. "When Sportsmaster claimed he had an ' _inside source_ ', he was merely sowing dissent,"

"His intel _easily_ could've come by comparing notes with the other villains working with the ' _Injustice League_ '," Robin added, using his fingers as quotation marks. "And think about it," he continued, crossing one leg over the other and lacing his fingers behind his head. "If anyone on the Team _was_ working with those creepoids--"

"He or she would've betrayed us during our fight against them," Aqualad continued Dick's thought. Red Arrow, on the other hand, was not so easily swayed.

"I'm not convinced," Roy grumbled, and it took all of Dick's willpower to not retort with ' _no duh_ '. "Sure, you two, Silvebird, and Kid Flash are above suspicion, but I _know_ Artemis isn't shooting straight. For starters, she's _not_ Green Arrow's niece,"

"What?" Kaldur sounded surprised, and Dick figured he likely hadn't known about Artemis's family tree, though the Boy Wonder also wasn't going to comment on Red Arrow's unintentional pun.

"Well, yeah," Robin said instead, sitting forward again. "In fact, she's related to--"

"Enough," Batman cut his protege off before Dick could finish. "Artemis's relations may indeed make her suspect, but she is still entitled to a secret identity. I'm more concerned about Superboy. We still know _very_ little about what Cadmus programmed into their ' _Weapon_ '. Conner could be the mole, and not know it,"

Robin figured this would probably be a bad time to tell Batman about the fact that he and Reese could see through each other's eyes. Not that he had been planning on telling the Dark Knight about it _anyway_ , but still.

The two hadn't been able to figure out _exactly_ how it worked over the last week, but from what Dick could tell, it probably had something to do with the golden arrowheads, because honestly what else could it be?

What he and Reese had also found out was that the split vision normally happened if their emotions got too high, like when Reese had almost gotten squished by that robot thing she and Conner had gone up against.

Yeah, _that_ had given Dick nightmares for days afterward.

It was kind of interesting though if Dick were being completely honest, and pretty cool. If the danger-sense wasn't weird enough, now he was actually able to _see_ through Reese's eyes.

That could be beneficial on missions too, though how he and Reese would explain it to the rest of the Team, Dick wasn't sure yet. No one else even _knew_ about it.

"Hey, what about Miss Martian?" Red Arrow added after a few seconds, making Robin glance up at the redhead again. "She _is_ Manhunter's niece, but he told Black Canary that he has a few _hundred_ nieces and nephews, and the first time he met M'gann was _five months_ ago when she stowed away on his last trip from Mars to Earth,"

"This changes nothing," Aqualad responded firmly. "I have fought side-by-side with these people. _None_ are traitors,"

Robin settled back in his chair, realizing that they were all back to square one on who the mole could be.

Zira handed Dick a small pen that she had found, giving the Boy Wonder a small gorilla smile, before hopping off the chair and wriggling underneath it.

Robin bent down so he'd be able to see underneath the armchair, only to see the baby gorilla curled around a bunch of random knickknacks.

So _that_ was where Zira had been bringing all her trinkets. The gorilla was like a magpie, drawn to anything shiny or sparkly. She had even tried to take Dick and Reese's necklaces a few times.

Dick glanced up again, only to see Roy staring at him, his face absolutely full of confusion. After a moment, the archer braced his fingers against his forehead and sighed.

"I _know_ I'm going to regret asking this," he began. "But, _why_ do you have a baby gorilla? And _why_ is she under your chair?"

"Reese didn't tell you?" Robin asked, a bit surprised. Roy and his surrogate sister had always been close, though Dick would be kidding himself if he said he hadn't noticed how their relationship had strained since Speedy went AWOL from the Hall of Justice.

Though, during the past couple of weeks, it _had_ been getting better.

"Tell me what?" Roy continued, crossing his arms, and Dick took that as a ' _no_ '.

"Well," he began slowly, wondering how he should explain this without giving Roy a conniption. "A month ago, the Team went on a mission to Africa. We saved these telepathic gorillas from the Brain and Ultra-Humanite, only one of them didn't have any parents, so the troop let Reese bring her back with us. Her name is Zira, by the way,"

"You're kidding," Red Arrow responded, giving Robin a dry look, but the Boy Wonder just shrugged and gave a grin.

"Nope," he answered simply. "All aster, no dis. Well, except for the part where Gorilla City exploded. _That_ was pretty disastrous,"

Roy kind of looked like his brain had just exploded, and he opened his mouth to say something, before he closed it again, and shook his head, though a few seconds later, he did speak.

"Speaking of my sister," Red Arrow began. "Wasn't Reese supposed to be here? Where is she?"

"Girls' night with Artemis and Zatanna," Robin answered simply, giving a small shrug. "Said she'd be back later tonight,"

Dick didn't know what Reese was up to, but knowing her, she wouldn't try to, but Rhysalin Queen would undoubtedly get herself into trouble one way or another.

Robin was just hoping she didn't end up destroying anything.

➳➳➳

Silverbird, Zatanna, and Artemis skidded to a stop in front of the Museum of Natural History, the entrance cordoned off with crime scene tape and cop cars scattered in front of the steps.

Idly, Reese wondered what had happened, but before she could say anything, Artemis spoke.

"Whatever happened here is _over_ ," the blonde muttered, still sounding a bit grumpy, and Reese and Zatanna exchanged a glance. "I _want_ some action,"

"But," Reese began slowly, so as not to piss the other archer off even more. "Maybe you _need_ to talk. Artemis, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about M'gann and Conner but--"

Before she could finish, Artemis revved her engine and drove ahead. After a moment, Reese sighed, before she and Zatanna followed.

"What I _need,_ " Artemis corrected the brunette harshly. "Is something to beat up,"

Luckily, Artemis got her to wish. Though it was no Gotham City in terms of yearly crime rate, there were still plenty of criminals in Manhattan, and plenty of civilians to rescue.

A couple getting mugged at an ATM, two thugs robbing a convenience store, and a girl jogging who got jumped in the park.

That last one was what really set off Artemis's temper, though Reese didn't completely blame her. Zatanna levitated the girl out of the way before Artemis jumped in to confront the would-be attackers, and the way she did it was, in one word... _brutal_.

One thug managed to escape from Artemis's onslaught, and he made a run for it, but Reese decked him with a punch to the jaw before he could get very far.

When Artemis turned around after defeating one of the last thugs, Reese saw she was smiling, and while the brunette was happy that her friend's mood had improved, there _were_ simpler ways to have done it.

Zatanna, apparently, shared her thoughts, because the magician said as much when the trio were walking back to their bikes after their stint in the park.

"There were easier ways to take them," Zatanna began slowly, but Artemis only scoffed in response.

"They had it coming," the blonde said simply, completely unaffected from her actions thirty seconds ago. "No harm was done," 

Abruptly, Reese slowed down, trailing slightly behind the other two girls as she looked around the small block where they were. Something felt... _off_ , but Silverbird couldn't put her finger on what it was. 

She glanced around again, but the street that she, Artemis, and Zatanna were on was deserted, the only people around were a man walking his dog way at the other end, and an elderly woman carrying her groceries late at night.

Then, her vision split, and Reese suddenly heard Dick's voice in her ear.

" _Reese, get out of there! It's a trap!"_

The brunette snapped her eyes towards where Artemis and Zatanna were still walking towards the motorcycles, and her eyes widened.

"Zee, Artemis!" she shouted, making both of them stop and start to turn around. "Stop! Something's wrong! It's--"

Before Reese could finish, all three bikes exploded, and the subsequent shockwave threw the three girls back across the street.

Reese skidded across the asphalt, and when she looked up again, her ears were ringing. Maybe it was because she and Dick had been practicing with it over the last couple of days, but her vision hadn't gone back to normal yet.

" _What happened?"_ Robin sounded a bit frantic. " _Are you okay? Reese, what's going on?"_

"I-I'm fine," the brunette managed to say after her ears stopped ringing. "I don't _know_ what happened, just that something _did_ ,"

"Reese, who are you talking to?" 

Silverbird glanced at Zatanna as the black-haired girl spoke, and when Reese turned to her, Zee's eyes widened, and the twelve-year-old was suddenly reminded of the first she and Dick had seen through each other's eyes.

Conner had said her eyes turned gold and considering her vision hadn't split back yet, Reese had a feeling that her changed eye color was probably why Zatanna looked like she was about to freak out.

Reese opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything, movement came from the periphery of her vision, and she turned, just as someone walked out of the smoke resulting from the explosion.

He was tall, with long brown hair, probably as long as Reese's; maybe even longer. Four long scratch marks marred the left side of his face, and his chest was bare, covered only with what Reese assumed was, at one point, a light gray trench coat.

The man was also carrying a sword, and judging from the way he was holding it, and Dick's panicked-sounding mumblings in her ear, this guy was _not_ friendly.

"Indeed," he said, his voice deep. "Harm is not done. Much Harm, left to do," Inside her head, Reese concluded that this guy was officially a weirdo, and got ready to scream at him as he advanced on her, Artemis, and Zatanna. "The its cannot escape Harm," he continued, and Artemis nocked an arrow.

"Escaping isn't on the menu," the blonde grumbled before she shot her arrow, and though the shot was true, _Harm_ it seemed this guy was called, just sliced it, and the following ones, remarkably nonchalantly, out of the air and, taking a page from Robin's book, Silverbird thought that Harm should be incredibly _chalant_ in this situation.

"Its arrows do not impress," Harm said simply, and while the Canary Cry that Reese sent him next made Harm slide back several yards, somehow, he wasn't deterred, and just started walking forward again, letting the tip of his sword scrape along the ground, the noise grating over Reese's ears. "And neither does its voice,"

Okay, Silverbird had no idea who the hell this " _Harm_ " guy was, but she did _not_ appreciate being called an _it_ , thank you very much.

"Fine," Zatanna muttered, before turning her hand towards Harm. "Teah taht s'nopaew latem!" The sword started to glow a splotchy red in Harm's hands, and the man glanced down at it sparingly before turning back to Zatanna.

"Its magic is not impressive, either," He said simply, grinning maniacally. "All three must do _better_ , or suffer Harm,"

"We get it," Artemis snapped as she and Reese both drew their bows and pointed several arrows towards Harm at the same time. "Your name is Harm,"

Harm, once again, seemed remarkably calm. "Their ridiculous garb and rudimentary skills indicate instruction from Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Zatara," Harm then turned his gaze towards Reese, and the girl shuddered under his gaze. "Though Harm does not know how it sensed Harm's trap before detonation. No matter though, Harm will study these three to learn methods for _killing_ their _mentors_ ,"

"Oh, you did _not_ just threaten my dad," Zatanna muttered, and Reese said the same thing, as she shot more arrows towards Harm, and Zee began another spell. "Etativel drows ot em!" Harm's sword started to tremble in his hand as Zatanna tried to call it to her, but the sociopath only glanced at it sparingly before turning back to the three girls.

"It wants Harm's sword?" Harm muttered, before smirking again. "Very well,"

Then, Harm threw his sword towards Reese and Zatanna, prompting both of them to duck, and Reese felt the blade brush the ends of her hair just before it slammed into the wall behind them, all the way to the hilt.

"Big mistake, Harm-ster!" Artemis shouted as she ran to the side, shooting two arrows at once, but Harm managed to catch them before they detonated, and threw them _back_ towards Artemis.

Reese saw the arrows coming and slammed in Zatanna, who got knocked into Artemis and Silverbird managed to successfully get all three of them out of the way. When she sat up, rubbing her head, Reese's eyes landed on an alley a few yards away, where a young girl dressed in all-white was standing, beckoning with one hand.

For a moment, Reese wondered if she had imagined the girl, but judging from the look on Zatanna's face, she hadn't.

"On second thought," the other girl muttered as she and Reese glanced at each other. "Running..."

"Yeah," Artemis breathed as Reese gave a small nod. "To regroup," As she and Artemis started to run into the alley where the fourth girl had disappeared, Reese glanced over her shoulder as Zatanna shouted one more spell towards Harm.

"Erif nrub, nordlauc elbbub!" 

Fire _exploded_ around Harm in a wide arc, blocking him off from Zatanna, Artemis, and Reese, and the momentary distraction gave Reese and Zatanna a prime opportunity to follow Artemis into the alley.

"Nice," the blonde shouted as they ran, and Zatanna gave a smile in return.

"Thanks!" she said. "Something I've been practicing since Red Vol--"

"Wait!" Artemis abruptly cut Zatanna's explanation off, and Reese glanced to see the girl in white standing at the corner, still beckoning them. "Who's that?"

"Do you _care_ right now?" Reese retorted.

Even if Artemis _did_ care about who this random fourth girl was, they had bigger things to worry about at the moment, like who the hell Harm was, and _why_ the hell he was after them.

"No!" Artemis answered a few seconds later, and the trio entered the alley where the other girl had disappeared, only for Reese to skid to a stop a few yards in.

"It's a dead-end!" she exclaimed, glancing around. "Where'd she go?"

The sound of metal grinding together caught Reese's attention, and she turned, just as the ladder from a nearby fire escape lowered a foot away, and when she turned her head up towards the roof of the building, the brunette saw the girl in white waving at them from all the way up, though how she got up there so fast, Reese had no idea, but at the moment, she didn't really care.

"I like her already," Zatanna murmured, glancing at Reese and Artemis, who both nodded before they all scrambled up the fire escape, Reese bringing up the rear and pulling the ladder up behind her so Harm wouldn't follow... _hopefully_.

The girl in white was waiting for them when the three reached the roof, and Reese walked forward a few steps so she could see the girl better.

She was small, shorter than Reese even, and young. Her skin was pale, and her hair was platinum blonde, and she was wearing a light-gray poncho over a dark long-sleeved shirt and light leggings.

"Thanks," Reese said quietly, studying the girl for a few seconds, but she didn't say anything in response. Reese couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something... _off_ about her.

It wasn't the same feeling she'd gotten earlier before Harm's first attack, it wasn't as-- _ominous_ , but it was still an odd feeling as if every hair on Reese's arms and neck were standing on end.

"Who are you?" Zatanna asked quietly, but the girl's expression didn't change.

"Secret," she whispered, just as Artemis shoved Reese out of the way and butted into the conversation.

"That won't cut it," the blonde said roughly as Reese was knocked into a support beam of a nearby rooftop water tower, jostling her shoulder. "We need answers. Do you know Harm? Does he have any weaknesses?"

"Secret," the girl whispered again, before pointing over Zatanna's shoulder, prompting the other three girls to spin around just as Harm leaped up onto the roof, sword already drawn and ready.

So much for him not following them.

"At least they make the hunt interesting," the villain murmured, before jumping off the ledge of the roof and making his way towards Reese, Artemis, and Zatanna, waving his sword around, likely as a show of force.

Reese was decidedly _not_ impressed.

"He's fast, I'll give him that," Artemis muttered, just as Reese spun around and shot an arrow straight up at the water tower, the razor-sharp arrowhead puncturing the wood paneling and letting a stream of water gush out as Zatanna directed it towards Harm.

"Dloc dniw wolb!" she cried. "Dloc dniw wolb! Dloc dniw wolb!" 

The water surrounding Harm froze, and he was suddenly encased in a thick sphere of ice, though Reese wasn't even able to take a breath before, from inside the sphere, she saw the sword start to glow, along with an intricate symbol on Harm's bare chest.

"Uh, guys?" The brunette began slowly, glancing at Artemis and Zatanna as she started to back away, just as the ice exploded again, making Reese shield her face. When she looked up again, Harm was free.

The water tower exploded too, and that sent Artemis, Reese, and Zatanna running across the roof to get away from the sociopath currently trying to kill them.

"Where'd Little Miss Secret go?" Artemis cried out, and Reese pointed towards the roof of a building several yards away, where she was able to see ' _Little Miss Secret'_ waving wildly, though how she got over there so quickly, Reese didn't know.

"There!" she exclaimed, just as Zatanna glanced down at her footwear.

"Okay," the magician began, sounding a bit breathless. "These boots? Adorable. But, for a chase sequence?" A few seconds later, she said another spell. "Lacticarp raetwoof won!" There was a flash of smoke, and Zatanna's heeled boots changed into a pair more adept for escaping a would-be serial killer.

"Speak for yourself," Reese muttered as she rolled to a stop on the next roof. "I don't think I could survive without my heeled boots,"

Shoes were one of Reese's only material weaknesses. Her closet was _full_ of them.

But, that was off-topic. As she, Zatanna, and Artemis ran across the roofs of New York, a bolt of yellow lightning struck right in front of Reese, and she skidded to a stop to avoid it, spinning around on a puddle to face Harm again.

Silverbird nocked an arrow, but before she could shoot it, Harm threw a dagger straight at her head, and while Reese was able to dodge it before it impaled her eye, the blade snapped her bowstring in two, and grazed her cheek, leaving a sharp pain behind.

When Reese gently tapped her fingers against the side of her face, they came away red with blood. _Great_ , that was the last thing she needed right now, but hopefully, the bleeding would stop after a minute or two.

"You two!" Reese snapped her head towards Artemis and Zatanna. "Hold him off while I restring!"

Taking an extra bowstring from her quiver, Reese scrambled to finish before Harm overtook Zatanna and Artemis, and while it looked like the other archer still had some pent-up anger from earlier, she was no match for Harm, and a few seconds later, Harm's sword was flying towards Reese again.

Tossing her bow aside, Reese instead grabbed at the sheath around her right thigh, where she had been keeping a pair of Dick's old eskrima sticks, and crossed them over each other, blocking Harm's strike and digging her knee into the roof to keep the sword in place.

Harm struggled to move his sword lower, and Reese felt her muscles quivering under the strain. She couldn't hold this for much longer. But, while Artemis and Zatanna were still dazed across the roof, that left Reese on her own.

"You want to play without the toys?" she muttered, giving Harm a smirk, and it actually seemed to catch his attention for a few seconds, before he froze, and Reese took her chance while she had it.

Rolling onto her back, the brunette reached up with her legs and locked her ankles around Harm's arm, yanking his wrist downward before twisting up onto his shoulder and slamming him into the roof.

Harm lay there, motionless for a few seconds, before he twitched, and grabbed at her from behind, making Reese scramble off of him.

"It tries to bait Harm," the older guy muttered, thankfully dropping the sword so it sunk into the roof. "Leave Harm weak. But Harm has no weakness,"

Harm ripped off his jacket with a dramatic flair that was wholly unnecessary, before getting into a ready position.

Realizing that this guy had absolutely no idea who he was dealing with--Harm had no idea that Reese was able to see his next move before he made it--the girl holstered her own eskrima sticks again, and faced Harm herself.

For several seconds, as Artemis and Zatanna stood behind Reese, eyes wide, neither Silverbird nor Harm moved, before finally, the villain lurched forward.

Reese dodged, leaning deftly to the side as Harm's fist whistled past her head. He was fast and had learned skills as a proficient fighter _somewhere_ , but he was no match for her.

Silverbird managed to land a punch to Harm's jaw that stunned the young man for a moment or two, but Reese didn't give him a chance to recover. She may have been fighting dirty, but _he_ was the one who had tried to kill _her_ , so Reese called it even.

She kicked at the backs of Harm's knees, straight at his PCL, and while an injury to that ligament usually required a lot of force, it managed to catch Harm off-guard. It also made him angry. 

As Harm glared at her over his shoulder, his face twisted into a terrifying sneer, Reese saw his entire body tense, and she readied herself for the strike. Harm spun towards her, left fist extended, and Reese braced to stop it, but then movement came from lower, around Harm's right leg, and Silverbird faltered.

She had recognized the feint too late.

Harm's knee slammed into her abdomen, and he threw Reese across the roof, where the girl curled up instinctively into a fetal position as she slid to a stop beside Zatanna.

Artemis, in defense of her friend, leaped forward and took Reese's place against Harm, but even from she lay on the roof, eyes half-closed, Reese could see that Artemis was unfocused, either letting her emotions from what had happened just now cloud her judgment, or she was still pissed off from earlier.

Reese's vision suddenly split, and she saw Dick again, standing in his bathroom at Mount Justice, staring in the mirror, face the most panicked Reese had ever seen him.

" _Where are you?"_ he asked, voice bordering on hysterical. " _Pretty bird, I can come and help, but I need to know where you are,_ "

Reese knew that, through her eyes, Dick could see how Artemis was still fighting Harm, and he would likely be able to see how Artemis was _losing_.

"No..." she managed to mutter after a few seconds, catching Zatanna's attention as the black-haired girl crouched in front of her, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds at Artemis. "Stay...away..."

"Reese," the magician began, not knowing that the brunette wasn't even talking to her. "I'm not going anywhere,"

" _Rhysalin,_ " Dick continued, his voice quieter as he looked down at his hands, and Reese could see that his knuckles were white from where he had been clenching them against the counter. " _If you're hurt, if something goes wrong...I can't lose you again_,"

Reese felt bad, truly she did. She never wanted to put Dick through what he had gone through during the training simulation again, but she didn't need Harm to get to Robin too.

If Harm learned Dick's skills, he'd be able to go after Batman, and wasn't that his whole plan? To kill the mentors of the proteges trying to fight him?

She couldn't let that happen.

Reese tried to sit up again, but a lancing pain in her abdomen made her freeze, and she pressed a hand against her side. She probably had a cracked rib or two from when Harm had kneed her, and that was just _great_.

Zatanna, still looking a bit confused at why Reese was talking to the air, glanced over at where Harm's sword was still lodged in the stone roof.

Silverbird finally managed to sit up, still holding her side, just as Zatanna strained to try and pull the sword out, but instead of succeeding, lightning arced out from around the sword, zapping Zatanna and throwing her across the roof.

Everything was starting to swim in front of Reese's eyes, and she was getting dizzy, but she was still coherent enough to hear Artemis call Zatanna's name, just as Harm slapped her, knocking the blonde over to Zatanna and Reese.

"And it cares about others," Harm muttered, sounding equal parts admonishing and disappointed as he picked up his jacket from where it lay in a clump at the base of his sword. "Another weakness. The sword rejected its impure heart. It has not made the sacrifices Harm has to become pure,"

As Reese tried to process _that_ creepy monologue through the haze of pain that came from her broken ribs, Zatanna's voice caught her attention.

"Look," the black-haired girl hissed, jerking her head to the side, prompting Reese and Artemis to both turn, and Reese's eyes widened when she saw the ' _Secret'_ girl standing on a roof a couple of buildings away, waving frantically at them again. "It's...Secret,"

"She hasn't led us wrong so far," Reese muttered, and Artemis slowly drew a single arrow from her quiver, tapping the end of it before throwing it towards Harm's feet, allowing a cloud of smoke to billow out, obscuring their movements.

Something Reese wouldn't recommend? Running while you had broken ribs. It was definitely _not_ one of her favorite activities, and it hurt. A _lot._

Especially when she had to jump off of one building onto the roof of another that was significantly shorter. 

Usually, Reese would've been able to make the leap no problem, but her balance was off, and she took a tumble when she, Zatanna, and Artemis landed on the roof, scraping her hands as she rolled, eventually stopping to lean against the ledge.

"Robin is _so_ going to kill me," Reese muttered sarcastically, gaining a small laugh from Artemis, who helped the brunette stand as Zatanna glanced around, presumably looking for Secret, who was nowhere to be found.

"She's gone again," the magician said, beginning to sound a bit crabby. "Now what?"

"Looks like this is the end of the line," Reese added, as she peered over the ledge. There weren't any clear shots to the next street unless they all wanted to leap it themselves, and Reese _certainly_ couldn't do that in her current condition. "And we _definitely_ can't go back the way we just came, because there's a homicidal maniac chasing us,"

"We'll zipline to that magic store," Artemis offered, holding up her crossbow, and Reese went to nod in agreement, just before the sound of electric sizzling reached her ears, and she dove to the side, just as a bolt of lightning from Harm's sword struck the spot on the roof where she'd been standing a few seconds before.

Harm leaped down so he was standing in front of the three girls, and he was _mad_. Madder than usual but Reese was talking about the angry sort of mad, not the crazy-mad, though she figured Harm was that too.

"This can be no coincidence!" he cried, voice getting angrier and more belligerent by the second. "They alight on Harm's very roof? How did they know? _Tell_ Harm! Now!"

"Wait?" Artemis cut in suddenly, gesturing to the general surroundings. "This is _your_ place?"

Harm didn't dignify her with an answer. "No more games!" he shouted, just before taking the sword off of his back and slamming it into the roof. Lightning flew off it, traveling across the roof for a few seconds before hitting Reese, Artemis, and Zatanna with what felt like the force of an entire power station.

After a few seconds, Reese felt herself falling to the ground, and then everything went black.

But, not before she glanced up at Harm, who was staring down at all of them triumphantly, and saw Secret standing just behind him as if she had been there the entire time.

➳➳➳

Robin was getting tired of waiting.

It had been almost an hour since he'd heard anything from Reese, and he _knew_ that she was hurt, and he _knew_ that something had gone wrong, so, completely ignoring the fact that Reese had told him to stay away, Dick stood up from where he had been impatiently tapping his foot against the floor, grabbed his jacket, and walked over to the garage of the cave, where his motorcycle was waiting.

Deciding that it'd be a bit hard to explain what _Robin, the Boy Wonder_ was doing in Manhattan, Dick decided to go in civvies but bypassed his usual dark shades for a pair that included night vision, so it wouldn't be _as weird_ as wearing sunglasses at night.

Also, because Happy Harbor was a good three-and-a-half-hours away from New York, zeta-ing from the cave to Manhattan would probably be Dick's best bet if he wanted to get to Reese, Artemis, and Zatanna in time.

He just hoped he wasn't too late.

➳➳➳

When Reese finally blinked her eyes open, the first thing she noticed was that her head hurt. A _lot_. The brunette also noticed that she and Zatanna were sitting side-by-side on separate chairs, both of them tied up with rope, a crossbow pointing at them from across the room.

Reese moved her lips, trying to speak, but a slight pressure indicated there was something over her mouth--probably duct tape. Glancing over at Zatanna, Reese saw that the magician was trapped the same way.

Artemis wasn't in the room with them, which Reese noticed was decorated like a little girl's bedroom. Odd, that _this_ was where Harm had decided to detain them, though if Secret was working with him, maybe this was her room?

Reese honestly had no idea what was going on anymore.

Speaking of, Secret suddenly appeared on the other side of the room, and Reese started to struggle against the ropes tying her to the chair.

This girl looked harmless, but if she really _was_ working with Harm...Reese didn't want to risk it. As it were, the quiet blonde walked closer to her, and Reese tried to lean away as far as she could, which admittedly, wasn't that much, but instead of attacking her, Secret reached up and tore the tape from across Reese's mouth.

Yeah, it stung a little bit, but other than that, Secret didn't do anything, only walking over to Zatanna and taking the tape off of her mouth as well.

"Sepor, emoc esool!" the magician said quickly, and the ropes binding her and Reese to their chairs suddenly came loose, both of them standing up, with Zatanna rounding on Secret as soon as she was free. "First, you lure us into a trap," she began sharply. "And now you free us? What's your game?"

"Secret," the smaller girl said, and Reese couldn't help but roll her eyes. At this point, this ' _secret'_ stuff was getting pretty old.

Glancing around, Reese's eyes landed on a nightstand across the room, and she walked over, Zatanna and Secret following behind. On the nightstand, along with a bunch of other toys and dolls, also stood a picture frame with two people inside.

Grabbing it, Reese studied the photo for a moment. When she saw it up close, her eyes widened. One of the people in the photo was undoubtedly Harm, only he was _smiling_ , which was really weird, and he looked _happy_ , which was even weirder, but the other person...

"Is this _your_ room?" she asked, spinning around so she and Secret were facing each other, wanting to see if her theory was correct. "Are you _actually_ living with this--this _psycho_?"

"Secret,"

"Secret," Reese echoed sarcastically, tossing the picture frame onto the pink-covered bed and walking back across the room. " _Right_ ,"

Grabbing the crossbow from where it stood in front of the chairs, she glanced up, outside the bedroom door across the hall, where she was only just able to see Artemis tied to another chair, Harm pacing in front of her.

Zatanna suddenly slapped a hand over Reese's mouth, causing the other girl to let out an indignant sound, but she paused when Zatanna motioned for her to be quiet.

Briefly, the magician waved her hands over Reese, whispering " _Leah,_ " under her breath, which the brunette mentally translated as _heal_ , just as the pain in her side completely disappeared.

Then, muttering another spell she wasn't able to catch, Zatanna pulled Reese to the side, and the two ducked just past the door, mere moments before Harm rushed in, bolting towards the illusion of the two girls that were crouching in front of the chairs.

While he was distracted, Reese and Zatanna ran out into the hall and the other bedroom, freeing Artemis and booking it just as Harm realized that he had been duped. As they ran down the stairs, Secret reappeared--how she moved around so fast, Reese didn't know--and Artemis instantly pointed her crossbow at the pale girl.

"Wait!" Reese cried, blocking Artemis's shot, and the blonde shot her a look.

"Reese!" she retorted. "She's his partner!"

"Then why did she help me and Zatanna?" the brunette countered, but Artemis just shot her a dry look.

"I don't know," the other archer commented, deadpan, using her fingers as quotation marks. " _Secret_ ,"

Suddenly, the sound of crackling that usually accompanied one of Harm's lightning sword blasts came from behind the trio, and Reese turned around to see Harm standing on the landing just above him, sword already glowing as it powered up.

"Look out!" Zatanna cried, just as the blast hit the stairs above her, Reese, and Artemis, throwing the three girls forward onto the floor, eventually blasting them _through_ the floor, and into the kitchen below them.

Realizing that they were running out of time and that Harm was catching up, Reese looked around wildly for something, _anything_ , that might give them an advantage. Which was when her eyes landed on the stovetop oven, and a metaphorical lightbulb went off above her head.

Old house...gas stove... _explosion_.

Probably one of the only times she had ever done anything willingly concerning fire, Reese grabbed an arrow from her quiver and turned towards Artemis and Zatanna.

"Okay, listen," she said quickly, standing up before she opened the oven door and turned it on. "I have an idea, but we have to be very, _very_ careful,"

➳➳➳

Robin had been driving around the dark and deserted streets of the Lower East Side for the last twenty minutes, and he hadn't found anything related to Reese, Artemis, and Zatanna.

He'd seen the wreckage of their exploded bikes about two miles back, and now he was standing on the roof where Reese had gotten hurt fighting...whoever it was that had attacked the girls.

Dick really wished this whole split-vision thing was easier to work with. He wished he could get it to work whenever, rather than whenever his or Reese's emotions got heightened. Then maybe he'd know where Reese was.

Just as Robin was turning in a circle on the roof, trying to figure out where to go next, a resounding ' _boom_ ' echoed across the city, and the Boy Wonder spun around in time to see a cloud of smoke and fire erupt into the air a few blocks away.

It could be nothing, there were old buildings in this part of the city, it might have just been a gas main that exploded.

But, what were the chances that it _didn't_ have something to do with Reese?

Honestly? Dick wasn't willing to take that chance.

➳➳➳

Hiding in the cellar had been Artemis's idea, and Reese had to admit, it _was_ a good one. There was no way the three of them would've been able to get out of the house and out of the blast zone in time before Harm ignited the natural gas, so hiding in the basement was the next best thing.

She couldn't believe they'd blown up a _house_.

As she and Zatanna threw open the cellar doors, Reese glanced around. It seemed the three of them were in the tiny backyard of the dilapidated house and front of them...

In front of them lay a grave.

Slowly walking forward, Reese knelt in front of the flattened dirt and read the headstone, which was really nothing more than a wooden board with words carved into it.

"Great Hayes..." she began quietly. " _Beloved sister_ ,"

Suddenly, a form rose out of the surface of the grave, making Reese, Zatanna, and Artemis all stumble backward from shock. When the flash of light faded, Secret was standing on top of the grave in front of Reese, and all of the dots started to connect inside her head.

"This is your grave," Reese said slowly, turning her head to look at Secret-- _Greta_ \-- as the ghost ( _ghost!_ ) stood silently in front of her. "This is your secret. This is _you,_ "

Greta's face suddenly turned morose, and Reese figured she'd be sad too if she died at such a young age. Artemis, meanwhile, looked like she was having an existential crisis.

"A ghost," the blonde muttered, seemingly still in shock. "An _actual_ ghost,"

As Reese stood up, Zatanna turned to Greta. "How did you die?" the magician asked, and the ghost gently held out her hands, just as a picture of a blade appeared in the air above them.

A dagger. 

Reese _recognized_ this dagger, and so too, it seemed, did both Artemis and Zatanna.

"Harm's dagger!" Artemis whisper-shouted, just as the door behind the quartet exploded, signifying that Harm himself had just arrived. And he was definitely _not_ happy.

"They defile Harm's holy place!" the murderer shouted, just before Artemis shouted back at him.

" _We_ defiled it?" she echoed, pointing towards Secret's grave. " _You_ did this! To your own sister!" But, instead of getting angry, Harm just tilted his head to the side, looking at the young heroes from the corner of his eye, and _smiled_.

"You're _happy_ about that?" Reese asked, her mind barely able to process how someone would be able to be _proud_ of killing their own sibling. "And you had the _gall_ to write ' _beloved'_ on her headstone?"

"Not gall," Harm retorted simply. "Truth. She was the only thing Harm ever loved. That's _why_ she had to go. Harm's heart had to be _pure,_ Greta had to be cut out-- _excised like an infection,_ " Suddenly Harm's face turned to a look of surprise and glancing sparingly over her shoulder, Reese saw that Greta had appeared above her grave again. "Ah," Harm began, seemingly unaffected by the sudden ghostly appearance of his dead sister. "It cast another _illusion_ spell,"

"Except _I_ didn't speak," Zatanna explained, after she and Artemis and turned to see Greta as well. "Harm _knows_ it can't cast a spell without speaking," Greta walked between Reese and Artemis, moving closer to her brother, and this was when Reese was able to finally see Harm start to lose it.

"You asked how we found this place?" Artemis asked, lowering her crossbow the smallest smidge. "Face it, Harm. Your secret's _out_ ,"

"No!" he shouted in response, holding his sword straight out from his body, the blade starting to spark again. "Harm's heart is pure! Harm's not sorry. I'm _not_!"

But, Greta said nothing, not even " _Secret"_ , and instead only walked forward until Harm's sword went right through the base of her neck, but because she was a ghost, there was no visible damage.

Then, as if this entire night hadn't already been weird enough, Greta reached up and _into_ Harm's chest, closing her hand around the glowing orange _thing_ , and then taking it out.

Harm fell to the ground, shocked, but he was up on his feet again a few seconds later, in time to see the orange ball of evil magic disappear in Greta's hand.

He tried to use the sword to slice through Greta, but it didn't work, and instead, the sword stuck fast into the ground, sheathing itself again and falling to the cobblestones, useless as it had been in the museum when this had all started.

But, Harm wasn't deterred, and instead only rounded on Reese, Artemis, and Zatanna again.

"Tch," he scoffed. "I don't need the sword," Again, though this time he used his dagger, Harm tried to attack Greta, but he went right through her and found himself face-to-face with Artemis, who slammed her foot into his wrist, knocking the dagger to the ground.

"So unfocused!" the blonde exclaimed sharply, though there was an undertone of smugness in her voice. "It can't fight us while fighting itself!"

Realizing that she desperately wanted to get Harm back for kneeing her in the ribs earlier, Reese took Artemis's place, ducking easily under Harm's fist and slamming _her_ fist into _his_ abdomen, knocking the wind out of Harm and making it even easier for Reese to defeat him. 

Which she did, by spinning around and kicking him in the head.

"Egnahc sehtolc otni sgnidnib," Zatanna said slowly, and Harm's jacket wrapped around him as if it were the bindings of a mummy, and then he was down for the count. For good, this time.

Now that the fight was over, Greta walked back to her grave and stood on top of the dirt. Giving the young ghost a soft look, Reese tilted her head.

"We'll make sure you receive a _proper_ burial," she said quietly. "We won't forget you, Greta," Greta said " _secret"_ one more time, before sinking back into the grave, disappearing. After a couple of moments of silence, Artemis finally spoke up.

"I _still_ can't believe anyone could do that," the blonde began slowly. "And to his own _sister_. If my--"

Reese's eyes widened at the sudden almost-confession, but judging from the way Artemis snapped her mouth shut a second later, she hadn't meant to say that.

"Your what?" Zatanna asked quietly. "Artemis, you can talk to me and Reese. Secrets _don't_ stay buried. Obviously," the magician added after a moment, gesturing to Greta's grave, but regardless of what the three of them had been through, Reese knew that Artemis wasn't going to open up _that_ easily. "It's better to bring them into the light,"

"I don't have any secrets," Artemis said firmly, just as someone dropped down beside her, making the blonde jump and spin around, pointing her crossbow straight at... _Robin_.

"Geez, Artemis, calm down!" Dick cried out, holding his hands up as if to placate the archer who was currently pointing a crossbow in his face. "I come in peace,"

"Robin?" Artemis asked, only lowering her crossbow after Dick nodded his head a couple of times. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to figure out why you three just blew up this kitchen," he said simply, gesturing over his shoulder to Harm and Greta's destroyed house. "Cops are en route, by the way. And I figured you _probably_ don't want to get arrested,"

Reese had no idea what Robin was doing there (or why he was wearing sunglasses in the dark), but what she _did_ know was that Dick was lying about his reason.

But, there was time to worry about that later. Now, they had to turn Harm over to the cops and get back to the cave before any _other_ homicidal maniacs decided to crawl out of the woodwork this Halloween.

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
October 31, 22:30 EDT**

Reese had dressed in her angel costume again and was currently bent over a table in the center of the cave, using a hot glue gun to glue the feathers that M'gann had shaken loose a few hours ago back on.

Zatanna and Artemis actually _had_ ended up going to the Happy Harbor dance when they had all gotten back, meeting up with Wally, M'gann, and Conner, and Reese was planning on joining them, as soon as she finished with her wings.

Footsteps made her glance up, only to see Dick walking towards her, sans his sunglasses, dressed in what she could only guess was _his_ Halloween costume.

And she couldn't believe it, but he _was_ the devil. Or, at least, some sort of demon.

Reese didn't know where Dick had gotten the suit, it was probably something to do with Wayne Tech, but the dark red dress shirt, black slacks, and blazer made him seem like some sort of hellish businessman, and the fake horns sticking out of his head completed the look.

Reese couldn't help it, but she started laughing, making Dick give her an odd look as he reached her, standing on the other table across from her.

"What are you doing?" he asked, and Reese stifled her giggles as she almost glued her hand to her wing.

"Fixing the feathers," she answered after a moment. "M'gann shook a few loose earlier, and I wanted to glue them back on before going to the dance,"

"You're going?" Dick asked, and Reese glanced up at him, quirking an eyebrow.

"Uh, _yeah_?" she said. "Aren't you?" Dick rubbed the back of his neck, and his face suddenly turned red, making Reese realize he was _blushing_.

"I was _going_ to," he began. "But, then I remembered that Gotham Academy's doing their own Halloween party. It's late, but if we leave now, we could probably still make it,"

Reese blinked.

"I thought you told Wally we were coming to the dance in Happy Harbor?" she asked, and Dick nodded. 

"I did," he answered simply. "But, that was _before_ I remembered the Gotham party, so I was just wondering if you, uh, wanted to go? With me, I mean,"

"Sure," Reese said after a moment, lowering her glue gun and unplugging it. "Can you help me put my wings on first? I want to see how they look," Giving a small nod, Dick walked around the table and picked up the large pair of feathered angel wings, and helped Reese pull the straps over her shoulders. While he was distracted, Reese spoke up. "You came to check on me tonight, didn't you?" 

When she felt Dick's hand freeze from where they had been moving her hair out from beneath one of the straps, Reese knew she had caught him.

"Yeah," he said quietly, still standing behind her. "I did,"

"Dick..." Reese trailed off, turning around so she and Dick were facing each other. "I can take care of myself. You know that,"

"Yeah, I know," he said quietly, reaching forward and gently taking Reese's hands in his, his fingers brushing against hers as Dick stared down at his shoes. "But...I just... during the simulation..."

"I know, Dick," Reese said quietly, but this time, Dick looked up and met her eyes, navy blue meeting chocolate brown.

"No, Rhysalin, you don't," he said firmly. "I know you told Dinah that you didn't want to lose me, but _I_ lost _you_. Do you have _any idea_ what that felt like, watching you _die_ right in front of me?"

Reese didn't know what to say to that. What _could_ she say? Instead, she just leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Dick in a hug that signified that she was _okay_ and that she was _here_.

After a moment, Dick returned her hug, and though it was a little awkward maneuvering with Reese's angel wings, they managed.

"I'm okay," Reese whispered, feeling Dick's entire body shake as he leaned his head into her shoulder. "You know that, right?" Dick nodded again before he took a deep breath, leaning back, but not stepping so far away that he and Reese weren't still face-to-face.

"You look beautiful, pretty bird," he said quietly, giving a small smile, and this time, Reese was the one who was blushing, and she looked down at her shoes.

"Thanks," she said after a few seconds, before looking up again and gently bumping her hip against Dick's. "You're pretty handsome yourself, Boy Wonder,"

"You ready to hit that party?" Dick asked, some of his usual Robin charm returning, and it made Reese smile even more as Dick extended his arm.

"Of course," she answered, linking her arms with his. "Lead the way, Grayson,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dick and Reese are basically together at this point, but they're not *official* because they're both dumb little idiots who are content to pine after each other for the time being but don't worry, we're getting there. T-minus 5 chapters.
> 
> It's also physically impossible for me to write normal fluff. I can write angsty fluff, but anything fluffier than that? I physically can't do it.
> 
> This won't be the last time that Reese encounters ghosts, but the next time will be during the five-year gap.
> 
> Also, remember the fact that Reese's favorite holiday is Halloween because that will NOT be the case later, but that's a story that will be developed during the five-year gap as well. 
> 
> (Reese and Dick will both eventually hate going underground, but that is also a story to be told later)


	25. 23. Misplaced

**M O U N T J U S T I C E**   
**November 5, 19:40 EDT**

Reese had heard a lot of strange things in her short life. And she meant a _lot_. But, honestly, what Dick had just told her no doubt took the cake.

"Wait," the brunette cut Robin off, holding up a hand as the two stood next to each other in the cave, waiting for M'gann and Conner to get back from their errand run. Reese was careful to keep her voice down, because even though no one else in the room had super-hearing, Wally was a notorious eavesdropper. "You're saying someone _actually,_ like, actually-actually _broke into Wayne Tech_ and _robbed_ it? Seriously?"

Robin gave a small nod, and both birds glanced past Red Tornado to where Batman was standing, his face expressionless per usual.

" _Seriously_?" Silverbird repeated, and though she knew Dick was telling the truth, she had to admit, it _was_ pretty dubious. 

Wayne Tech was one of the most secure companies in the country, and Bruce had security systems _for_ his security systems. He had to, considering he was Batman. But, to know that someone had actually _robbed_ the place? It was more than a little unbelievable.

"It happened a few days ago," The Boy Wonder whispered behind his hand, leaning over so their conversation wouldn't be detected by the others. "B thinks it had to have been an inside job because the robbery went down when the defense systems were updating,"

"What'd they steal?" Reese hissed, and her eyes widened when she saw Dick's face turn pale as he turned to glance at her.

"Tech from the R&D department," he said quietly, and Reese's mouth dropped open. 

The R&D department was the secret section hidden deep within Wayne Tech, and it held most of the Dark Knight's prototype gadgets. Even the Batmobile had been designed there. It was _also_ the _most_ secure department in the company. 

Or at least, it was supposed to be.

"Who has access to that place?" Reese whispered again, flicking her eyes over to glance at Batman again. She was about 80% sure that Bruce was listening to their conversation, but he hadn't interrupted them yet.

After a moment, Dick gave a small shrug.

"Me, B, Lucius," he listed simply. "Batman and I already cleared Fox though, so it's not him. He's been working the case non-stop for the last seventy-two hours, but we haven't found anything yet,"

"Wow," Reese said slowly. "Sophisticated thieves,"

"Yeah," the thirteen-year-old's voice was quiet and morose as Dick looked down at his feet. " _That_ would be an understatement,"

"Hey," Silverbird added softly, lightly bumping her hip against Robin's as the Bioship entered the cave. "You'll find the thieves. You and Batman. World's Greatest Detectives, right?"

Dick still looked a bit hesitant, but after a moment, he gave a small smile and glanced back over at Reese as the Bioship's back ramp opened.

"World's Greatest Detectives," he repeated, half to himself for a moment before he focused on Reese. "Thanks, Rhysalin,"

The brunette didn't say anything else but smile, because, at that moment, M'gann and Superboy exited the Bioship, each of them carrying large crates that were presumably filled with whatever it was that Batman had asked them to get.

Well, _Conner_ was carrying crates. M'gann was levitating some more, but Reese figured it wasn't that big of a difference.

"Did you get everything?" Batman asked, and Reese glanced over at the Dark Knight, realizing that the reason his voice sounded even gruffer than usual probably had to do with the recent robbery. She did _not_ want to be the thief when Bruce finally found them.

"Everything on your list, Batman," Miss M answered cheerily, as she levitated the boxes she was carrying down onto the ground. "Plus groceries,"

"Cookie fixings?" Wally asked, grinning as he scooted up to the box that M'gann had just set down and the Martian smiled.

"Snickerdoodle," she began, before glancing over at where Silverbird and Robin were standing. " _And_ chocolate chip,"

" _Yes_!" Reese exclaimed, catching the package of cookies that Kid Flash tossed to her out of the air with one hand, and from the corner of her eye, the brunette was pleased to see that Dick was smiling, and she glanced at him, waving a cookie under his nose. "Want one?" she asked, but Robin only smirked.

The next thing Reese knew, her hand that had been holding the package of cookies was empty, and Dick was shaking the box under _her_ nose, and even though she wasn't able to see his eyes behind his mask, Reese knew they were glimmering with laughter.

"Come and get it," he whispered, before bolting across the cave, and it was a few seconds later that Reese ran after him because she had been blushing when Robin first ran off, considering when he had teased her, they had been nose-to-nose.

" _Robin_!" she cried out, as she chased after him, bypassing Zatanna and Artemis as they exited the elevator, the blonde holding Zatanna back before she could get run over by the two, but Dick only cackled, waving the box of cookies in the air.

Noticing that Robin was basically just weaving between the crates and boxes, Silverbird estimated where he'd be next, and vaulted straight over one of the crates, startling Kaldur as she jumped over the box right in front of his nose.

Luckily, she had guessed correctly about where Robin was going to be in his zig-zag movements, and the brunette slammed into Dick as he rounded the corner of one of the crates, sending him sprawling across the cave floor as they both tumbled to the ground. 

Reese swiped the box of cookies off the ground from where they were just out of reach of Robin's fingers and dangled them in front of his face from where she was sitting on his back.

"I win," she murmured smugly, and Dick let out a huff, feigning annoyance, but his wide grin spoke otherwise as he glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Please," he scoffed teasingly, though he did take the cookie that Reese handed to him and munched on it. "I _let_ you win, pretty bird,"

Reese opened her mouth to retort, but before she could say anything, Batman, Zatara, and Red Tornado all disappeared in a flash of light. She gasped and scrambled off of Dick as Robin stood up, and Zatanna let out an urgent cry of " _Dad_!".

But it was no use. The three Justice League members who had been in the cave were gone.

And it seemed like they weren't the only ones. All over the country, adults and people over the age of eighteen had all disappeared, just like Batman, Zatara, and Red Tornado had.

Reese had tried calling Roy, but her call went straight to voicemail, which wasn't unusual now that Red Arrow had struck out on his own, but what _was_ unusual was that Silverbird hadn't been able to reach her dad or Black Canary either. And Dinah _always_ answered her phone.

So, while Artemis and Wally went with Conner and M'gann to help the latter two's classmates in Happy Harbor, Reese stayed behind at the cave with Dick, Zatanna, and Kaldur, to see if they could try and figure out what had happened, and where all the adults had gone.

So far, they hadn't been having much luck. After a while though, Wally called with the progress he and the others had made at the Happy Harbor High School.

" _We've set up a refugee center at the high school gym,_ " the speedster explained. " _Any luck with--_ "

"No," Robin answered, sounding a bit frustrated at the lack of headway he had made in trying to contact their mentors. "Can't reach the Batcave, the Hall of Justice, or the Watch--" he was cut off as Reese suddenly dug her elbow into his ribs.

As much as she liked Zatanna, Reese knew that the League's satellite headquarters _was_ still supposed to be a secret, even from some of their allies. 

She herself had learned about it a few months after she had met Roy and Dick in Star City, three years ago, at the point in time where she and Robin were getting to know each other better, and he hadn't wanted to lie about anything.

"The point is," Reese added, glancing over her shoulder at the young magician, but it didn't seem as if Zatanna had noticed the Boy Wonder's potential slip-up. "We can't reach _any_ adult hero. Even Red Arrow, but he turned eighteen already, so that was a dead-end anyway,"

" _Looks like we're on our own_ ," Wally said after a moment, and Reese gave a small nod, even though KF couldn't see her. " _Kid Flash out,_ "

A few seconds after Reese and Dick had ended their call with Wally, Zatanna spoke up from her spot across the center circle, making both birds turn to look at her, the magician pulling up several holo-screens showcasing the homepages for some social media sites.

"Traditional media's offline," the other girl began. "But kids all over the world are posting the same thing: _every_ adult, eighteen or older, has _disappeared._ The sorcery necessary to pull this off?" Zatanna added, glancing at Dick and Reese, eyes wide. " _Scary big_ ,"

"And we need _you_ to find its source," Robin explained, as Reese shifted her arms, in which she was holding Zira, the baby gorilla sound asleep as Zatanna's eyes widened even more.

"How am I--" she began, before Reese cut her off, not unkindly.

"Robin pulled this footage," she began, nodding her head as Dick pulled up the cave's security feed from a month ago, from just before the Team defeated the Injustice League. "It's Zatara helping us locate Wotan and the Injustice League after their crazy mutated plants attacked the world,"

The security feed replayed the moment that Zatanna's dad said the spell and the subsequent arrow that had appeared on the holo-map.

"But..." Zatanna began, suddenly self-conscious. "The words? That's only part of it. The rest takes training and--Reese, Robin, I'm just not on Zatara's level,"

Dick and Reese glanced at each other before the brunette turned back to the older girl.

"Look," she said softly. "I know what it's like, having to live up to someone else's grandeur. Trust me, I do. But, Zee, you're our _only_ hope. And like Robin says--"

"Try to stay whelmed," Dick piped up, giving the magician a smile. "We'll find your dad, Batman, Green Arrow, and all of them. That's what we do,"

A few minutes later, Kaldur walked in, after presumably trying to reach Atlantis, but judging from the downtrodden look on his face, he hadn't had any luck.

There were _millions_ of kids across the country who were suddenly without parents or parental figures, and the Team had no idea on how to help them. Conner, M'gann, Wally, and Artemis were trying, but that was just in Happy Harbor, one town in the teeny-tiny state of Rhode Island.

What about the other forty-nine states in the country? What about the other hundred countries in the _world_? How were eight pre-teen heroes supposed to protect all of them?

She must have been pretty lost in thought, because Dick suddenly nudged Reese in the ribs, making the brunette look up to see Robin staring at her, one eyebrow raised.

"What's going on in that head of yours, pretty bird?" he asked quietly, and Reese straightened up.

"We can't protect every kid on Earth," she began, an idea starting to form in her head as Dick, Zatanna, and Kaldur all stared at her. "Obviously, there aren't enough of us for that, and we would be spread _way too thin_. But, what if we put a message out _for_ the kids of Earth, telling _them_ to protect _each other_? That way, everyone's leaning on each other,"

For a moment, the three people in front of Reese all stared at her, eyes wide, before Dick's face suddenly split into a wide grin, and he cupped Reese's face in his hands, eyes shining behind his shades.

"Rhysalin, you're a _genius_!" the thirteen-year-old exclaimed. "I could kiss you!"

For several seconds, it was dead-silent in the cave, before Dick realized what he had said, and _Reese_ realized what he had said, and they both jerked away from each other, faces beet-red, to stand on either side of Zatanna and Kaldur, who were both trying _very_ hard not to laugh.

"Uh...thanks," Reese said quietly, staring down at her shoes, as Dick spluttered out a response a few feet away before Robin turned to tap his commlink.

"KF, can you get back here?" he began, voice still sounding a bit strangled, and a few seconds later, Wally sped in, Artemis, Conner, and M'gann on his heels.

"Why do you both look so weird?" Artemis was the first to speak, staring at Robin and Silverbird with an odd look on her face.

Luckily, thank God for Aqualad, Kaldur saved them both from further embarrassment, walking forward, and setting a hand on Reese's shoulder.

"Reese has an idea for how we can help the children of Earth," the Atlantean began calmly, and Wally, M'gann, and Artemis all erupted into grins and even Superboy cracked a small smile.

But, all that was on Reese's mind was Dick, and what it was exactly that he had said. He'd said he could _kiss her_ , and while that wasn't exactly an uncommon thing to say, he'd said it to _her_.

Maybe Reese was overthinking things (she'd done it before), but...did that mean that Dick _wanted_ to kiss her? Did he like her too?

➳➳➳

Twenty minutes later, Dick had changed into his Robin suit and hacked into every satellite feed on the planet but was still currently waiting for the others to be ready to start the broadcast that Reese had thought up.

God, what had he been _thinking_? He couldn't believe he had _said that_. In front of Kaldur and Zatanna no less.

Dick currently wanted to slam his head against the wall of the cave. 

The truth was, he _hadn't_ been thinking. How smart Reese really was regularly left the young Boy Wonder awestruck, making him lose control of his words, but he couldn't believe that he'd said he could kiss her in the cave, _in front of_ their friends.

Not that Dick didn't _want_ to kiss Reese because believe me, _he did_ , but not _here_. He didn't want their first kiss to be in Mount Justice, in front of everybody. That would be so undeniably awkward, he'd probably chicken out before anything even happened.

"You ready?" Reese's voice from over his shoulder startled Robin so much he jumped. 

But, considering he had been trained by the Bat for the last almost five years, Dick managed to get control of himself again fairly quickly, turning around to face the brunette from where he had been finishing the final broadcast set-ups.

If he studied her, Dick was still able to see the lingering traces of Reese's blush from earlier, and he thought the faint rosy tint to her cheeks made her even prettier than usual, but then he kicked himself.

_So_ _not the time Grayson,_ Robin thought to himself. _Professional. You gotta be_ _professional._

"Dick?" Reese saying his name made the Boy Wonder look up again, glancing around to make sure the others weren't in the cave, and when he concluded that the coast was clear, Dick finally met his crush's eyes. 

Though, classifying Reese as his ' _crush'_ just felt...wrong. Not because it wasn't true, but because their relationship was so much more than a silly little fling of pre-teen puppy love. Truthfully, Dick didn't really know _how_ to describe his feelings. Just that they were a lot stronger, and a lot deeper, than any usual teenage crush.

"Yeah?" he asked finally, hoping to whatever was holy that his voice didn't betray his inner teenage turmoil. But, knowing Reese, she probably saw straight through his facade. _Great_.

"You okay?" Reese's voice was quiet, but then again, she had always been a fairly soft-spoken person, so Dick wasn't that surprised. "You look a bit... _tense_ ,"

"I'm fine," Robin answered swiftly, but judging from the skeptical look on Silverbird's face, she didn't believe him. "What about you?" When in doubt, change the subject. "You ready to be our translator, pretty bird?"

Reese, at some point, had taken her hair out of its ever-present fishtail braid, and now she ran a hand through the dark brown locks as she huffed out a breath.

"Translating our message into _every_ language on Earth?" she clarified but didn't give the Boy Wonder a chance to say anything before continuing. "That's a _lot_ of foreignity, Robin. I mean, I know I _can_ do it, but--"

"You'll do great, pretty bird," Dick said quietly, reaching forward, pushing down his embarrassment, and taking Reese's hands in his. "I promise,"

In order to hold her bowstring better, Silverbird had always worn a pair of fingerless gloves, and now, Robin lightly kissed the very ends of her fingertips, nothing more really than a brush, but still, he was beginning to feel bolder, and he opted to throw professionalism out the window. 

Screw Batman.

Somewhere along the way, the two of them had stepped a little bit closer to each other, and, considering the top of Reese's head stopped at Dick's browbone, the Boy Wonder literally had to look down at his partner in order to meet her eyes.

"Can we... _talk_?" Reese began quietly, and Dick blinked, opening his mouth to answer her when suddenly, the brunette lurched away from him again.

Two seconds later, Wally sped into the cave, his feet skidding against the ground as he stared at the two birds for a few seconds before nodding his head towards Dick. 

Reese must have heard him coming before Kid Flash entered the cave, which also explained why she had reacted so dramatically. Dick had to admit that sometimes, super-hearing had its advantages.

"Broadcast ready?" the speedster asked, his usual joking tone void from his voice. Robin gave a small nod, a bit ticked that he and Reese had been interrupted ( _again_ ), but right now, the Team had bigger things to worry about.

Readying the cave's holo-screens to record their message, Robin stood with Silverbird, Aqualad, and Kid Flash, with the twelve-year-old standing in the front.

From where he stood next to her, Dick heard Reese let out a breath, and when he glanced at her, he noticed her hands were shaking. 

The four of them may have all been standing in front of the camera, but Reese was the one who'd be giving the message, and she was the one who needed to get their message out there.

Really, Dick, Wally, and Kaldur were there for moral support. And also to show that the situation that had all the adults disappearing was serious since they were the only four public proteges that the rest of the world knew about.

Reaching over, Robin gave Silverbird's smaller hand a reassuring squeeze, and he sent Reese a small smile before the brunette let out another breath, this one stronger than the first before she gave a small nod to Dick, who then reached forward and linked up the cave's feed with the rest of the satellites that Robin had already hacked into.

A few seconds before the feed started broadcasting, a thought suddenly shot into Dick's head, and he lurched forward, tapping away at a holo-keyboard for a moment before standing back again, to face the confused and puzzled looks of Silverbird, Aqualad, and Kid Flash.

"Auto-translate," he explained simply, giving a small shrug. "That way, we can get the same message out all at once," And so that Reese wouldn't end up overworking herself trying to remember every language on Earth all at once, but Dick didn't say that last part.

The holo-screen the Team was broadcasting from suddenly beeped, signaling that it was almost time to begin, and Robin squeezed Silverbird's hand again, making the girl glance over at him.

"You'll do great, pretty bird," he whispered, and the younger girl nodded again before she turned back to the holo-screen, taking a deep breath before she started to speak.

"Attention, children, and teenagers of Earth," her voice was quiet, but after clearing her throat, Reese started again, a little bit louder. "I am Silverbird. These are my friends Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash. At the moment, we're using Justice League technology to broadcast and stream this message to every TV, radio, computer, and smartphone on the planet. We know you have to be scared right now, and angry, and every emotion in between. But, please, even with your parents gone, and under the semblance that there aren't any more rules, _do not run wild_ and stay as calm as you can. We _will_ find a way to bring the adults back, I _promise_ , but for now, your older brothers and sisters, and your friends need to step up. Take care of your younger siblings, take care of the kids who have no one. _Protect them_. It is up to you. And please, help in any way you can,"

With that, Robin stopped the live feed and set it on a repeating loop, so even if some kids hadn't seen it the first time, they would end up noticing it eventually.

As soon as the camera stopped rolling, Silverbird stumbled back a few steps, her entire body trembling, and Dick lunged forward again, wrapping an arm around Reese's waist in case her legs ended up giving out from the adrenaline rush.

"You did it, Rhysalin," he whispered, grinning at the brunette as Reese wrapped her hands around his free arm. "You did so well, pretty bird,"

"God, I hate public speaking," Dick heard Reese murmur softly after a few seconds of her getting her bearings again, and despite it, Robin found himself laughing, and was even more relieved when Silverbird gave a small smile herself.

"I will go check on Zatanna," Kaldur said suddenly, making both Dick and Reese glance over at their leader. "To see if she has made any progress in learning her father's spell,"

That was actually a good idea, so both Robin and Silverbird gave nods of agreement before Aqualad walked out of the cave, leaving Dick and Reese alone.

At some point after the broadcast had ended, Wally had walked out too, so quietly that not even Reese had heard him leave, and when he noticed that the redhead had disappeared, Dick glanced around for his friend.

"Where's KF?" he asked, looking around for a moment before turning back to Reese. "You think he went back to the high school?"

But, Reese only shook her head. "No," she answered simply, shrugging when Dick raised an eyebrow. "Conner, Artemis, and M'gann came back with him before we did the broadcast, and I'm pretty sure that Superboy and Miss M's classmates have Happy Harbor covered. I think--" suddenly Silverbird cut herself off, and sighed, before glancing up at Robin again. "You know what?" she began again. "I think I know where he is, but it's probably best if I talk to him alone,"

"What?" Robin asked, thoroughly discombobulated. "Why?"

"Just trust me," Reese told him, squeezing his hand for another moment before she let go. "Okay?"

Dick was being honest, he was still a bit confused, but there was no one he trusted more in the world than Reese. Giving her a small smile, Robin watched as the brunette walked out of the main cave, heading down a side hallway. The Boy Wonder didn't know how Silverbird knew which way Kid Flash had gone, but he trusted that Reese knew what she was doing. 

She always did.

➳➳➳

True to her suspicions, Reese found Wally standing in his trophy room, staring at the middle shelf, where the Helmet of Fate was sitting on its stand in between Jade Nguyen's Cheshire mask, and the beret that Wally had gotten off of Monsieur Mallah in India.

"Kaldur finally got through to Atlantis," the brunette said quietly, walking into the room as the speedster turned to look at her. "I heard him tell Robin just before I found you. No adults under the sea either,"

"So," Wally added slowly after a few seconds, turning his head to stare at Nabu's helmet, eyes narrowed in both thought and desperation. "How desperate are we? I mean, _this_ thing?" he gestured vaguely towards the golden helmet. "Could definitely come in handy,"

"I don't think we're that desperate," Silverbird told her friend softly. "Not yet. Kent had to reason _hard_ with Nabu last time to have him allow me to take off the Helmet after the Injustice League, and he had to reason with him that first time when _you_ put it on at the Tower of Fate. I don't think a Lord of Order is going to be so forgiving a third time around,"

Wally heaved a sigh, but before he could say anything else, Zatanna's voice came from behind the two, and they turned around to see the black-haired girl leaning in the doorway, Kaldur standing behind her shoulder.

"Guys?" Zatanna asked softly, seemingly not wanting to interrupt the conversation. "I-I'm ready to try my father's locator spell,"

Giving the magician a small smile, Silverbird followed Aqualad, Zatanna, and Kid Flash back into the main cave, where they met up with Artemis, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Robin, with Dick pulling up a blue holo-globe, much like he had done when Zatara had first executed the spell.

Walking forward so she stood apart from the rest of the Team, Zatanna raised her hands, one of which was holding a generic magician's wand, before pointing them both towards the glowing globe.

"Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!" Then, just like Zatara's spell had before the bayou in Lousiana, a small beacon appeared on the map, this time situated on the Eastern Seaboard, and Silverbird couldn't help but smile again.

It seemed like Zatanna was a lot stronger than she thought.

"Coordinates locked in!" Robin exclaimed after a moment. "Roanoke Island,"

"You did it," Reese tilted her head towards Zatanna and sent the magician another smile. "Nice job,"

**H A P P Y H A R B O R**   
**November 6, 00:05 EDT**

The Team was making the final preparations they each needed to before leaving for Roanoke when suddenly, the hairs on the back of Reese's neck stood on end, the way they always did in a thunderstorm.

Robin abruptly whipped around from where he had been standing beside Kid Flash and leaped towards Silverbird, slamming into her and knocking both of them to the ground just as a massive lightning bolt struck the floor where Reese had been standing a split-second before, along with a loud voice that shouted " _Shazam_!".

When the flash of light cleared, there was suddenly someone new standing in the cave, a young boy maybe a few years younger than Reese herself, dressed in a red hoodie, white t-shirt, and jeans.

"It worked!" the kid exclaimed, only to be met with a seething Robin as Dick grabbed the front of his sweatshirt and yanked the boy forward until they were face-to-face.

"Who are you?" he growled, more than a little bit pissed off and freaked out that the girl he loved almost got electrocuted by this _kid_. "Where did you come from?"

If Dick hadn't sensed the danger heading towards Reese in the seconds before the lightning bolt struck, she would've been killed. And he would _not_ be able to deal with that.

The kid's eyes widened as he took in the irate protege in front of him, and he started to look a bit freaked out himself.

Robin felt a hand grab his forearm, and he turned, still scowling, to look at Silverbird, who was standing next to him, gently tugging on his arm and silently asking Dick to let the kid go.

Abruptly, the Boy Wonder released his grip, letting the newcomer stumble back as Robin straightened up again, the anger leaving him in a moment. Reese didn't let go of him, but Dick didn't know if that was for comfort, or to keep him from doing something stupid.

"Quick!" the kid exclaimed, making Robin turn towards him again. "Read my mind!"

Glancing towards M'gann, Dick saw Miss Martian's eyes glow green for a few seconds before she suddenly gasped, the greenish glow leaving her eyes as they returned to normal.

"He's... _Captain Marvel_ ," the martian breathed out.

"Yeah," Wally muttered, pointing a thumb at himself, thoroughly unconvinced, and Reese had to admit, it _was_ pretty unbelievable. "And I'm Speedy Gonzalez,"

"Look, KF has a point," Silverbird agreed but held up a hand when Wally suddenly grinned. "And this is the only time I'll agree with you, but just because this kid _thinks_ he's a Justice Leaguer, doesn't mean--,"

But, the younger kid just smirked and crossed his arms. "Gee, Reese, Wally," he began. "Do I have to bring the speedster nachos and pineapple juice and get kidnapped by a psychotic gorilla with Silverbird to get on your good sides?"

For several seconds, all anyone could do was blink, before they all glanced at each other. After a couple more moments, everyone turned to look at Reese, who sighed again.

Looks like her job as a human lie detector was going to come into play again.

Walking forward so she was standing in front of " _Captain Marvel",_ Silverbird tilted her head to the side.

"What's your name?" she asked because, for all they knew, the _real_ Captain Marvel could've told this kid about waiting on Wally and getting captured by Monsieur Mallah in India with Reese, all because of some sort of elaborate recount of his Justice League missions.

"Captain Marvel," the kid answered simply, and Reese hissed a breath out from between her teeth.

"Your _real_ name," she clarified, and the kid put his hands on his hips.

"Geez," he retorted. "Haven't you ever heard of a secret identity? I mean, sure, _you_ don't hide it, Miss Rhysalin Blaire Queen, but _Robin_ does, and if _he_ suddenly appeared in a flash of lightning in a cave--"

"Just tell me your name!" Reese cut him off again, clenching her fists at her side, and the kid sighed again.

" _Fine_ ," he muttered, looking increasingly put-out about it, but he complied anyway. "My name is Billy Batson, but I can change into Captain Marvel--and an adult--because of this magical sorcerer and a rock that gave me superpowers. There. Happy?"

To say that Reese was speechless would be an understatement, but after a couple of seconds, she turned back to face the Team, who was watching both her and Billy expectantly.

"He's telling the truth," Silverbird said simply, and her friends' eyes widened before Wally held up a hand again.

"Wait," the redhead cut in, waving his hand towards Billy. "Your last name is _Batson_? As in, like, _Bat-son_? Seriously?"

Robin elbowed him in the ribs again, and KF rubbed his side, wincing as Billy started to explain what exactly had happened.

It seemed like the adults hadn't all disappeared forever, but they had been sucked into another dimension, one without children. And while the rest of the Justice League was trying to control the inciting pandemonium, Batman, Red Tornado, and Zatara had been left in Mount Justice after their proteges had "disappeared", trying to figure out what was going on, much like the Team had done when their mentors vanished.

There were now two dimensions coexisting at the same time. One without adults, and one without children, and it looked like the only way to get everything back to normal was to defeat the magic-user (or users) responsible at Roanoke and merge the dimensions back into one.

Luckily, it seemed as if Captain Marvel was able to travel between the two dimensions, and by having Billy hop back and forth between the two, the Team and Justice League were able to devise a plan that would hopefully set everything back to the way it was supposed to be.

**R O A N O K E  
November 6, 01:01 EDT**

Klarion was a Lord of Chaos, and thus, _remarkably_ hard to sneak up on, but honestly, Reese wasn't even surprised that bratty Witch-Boy was involved.

Following their planning with Batman and Zatara, with Captain Marvel acting as their carrier pigeon, the Team headed to Roanoke Island, where Zatanna had managed to track the magic's signature.

And though both Robin and Artemis were adept at being stealthy, they were no match for Klarion, and he managed to stop the wing-dings that Dick threw towards him, and arrows that Artemis shot, without batting an eye.

"Is that really the best you could do?" the Lord of Chaos admonished the two, before sending a blast of lightning straight at them.

The ground in front of Dick and Artemis exploded, throwing them backward, and while it wasn't good (in fact, it was very, very _bad_ ), it gave the rest of the Team, namely Silverbird, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Superboy, an opportunity to move in and try to defeat Klarion themselves.

Of course, _that_ didn't work either, because as soon as they got close, Klarion activated a red dome-shaped shield around the dimension-splitting pentagram, and all four of them quite literally bounced off of it, flying backward in different directions.

As Reese lay dazed on the ground, trying to make the stars in front of her eyes disappear, Zatanna stepped in front of her and extended a hand towards Klarion.

"Etativel mih ffo eht margatnep!" she shouted, and while a small section of the dome lost its color for a moment, it was back to normal seconds later, and Klarion was still standing.

"Tch," the Lord of Chaos tsked as Silverbird sat up, rubbing her head. " _Baby magic_ ,"

Then, Klarion said another spell, and waved his hand again, before Zatanna was thrown back through the air, but luckily, Conner managed to catch her before she hit the ground.

M'gann telekinetically threw large boulders on the shield, trying to break it, but they didn't do much damage, or any, for that matter, and, with the demeanor of someone who quite literally, had nothing to lose, Klarion turned around, opened his mouth, and blew a stream of fire straight at Miss Martian, though she managed to dodge before she was hit.

Finally managing to get to her feet after being thrown off of Klarion's shield, Silverbird glanced over at where Artemis was standing next to Wally.

"Listen," the speedster was telling her. "When Fate possessed my body, he defeated Klarion by attacking the cat!"

Reese snapped her head to the side where, outside of Klarion's shield, a dark orange tabby cat sat calmly, licking its paw. That had to be Klarion's familiar, the brunette realized. His anchor to the mortal world. Defeat the cat, and Klarion got sent back to whatever demonic dimension he came from.

"Good," Artemis muttered, pointing an arrow towards the feline. "Not a big cat fan anyway,"

She let the arrow fly, but Klarion saw it coming and made it instead turn into a ball of hunter-green yarn, which bounced harmlessly to the ground in front of his cat as the Lord of Chaos started to laugh.

"Show him what the familiar to a Lord of Chaos can do, Teekl," he cackled, and as Reese was trying to process the fact that his cat had the _weirdest_ name, Teekl started to change, turning into some kind of massive sabretooth-like tiger.

Silverbird ran forward, shooting several arrows at the now monstrous-cat, but they just bounced off Teekl like bullets ricocheting off of Superman, and the familiar lashed its paw out, catching Reese in the chest and throwing her backward.

The razor-sharp claws had ripped through the front of her jacket but hadn't broken through Silverbird's skin, which the brunette was insanely grateful for, but she had to roll to the side to avoid getting her head crushed by Teekl's paw.

Before Reese could even begin to think about escaping from Teekl this time, the monstrous cat swiped her aside again.

Rolling, Silverbird only just managed to avoid Teekl once more, and the cat instead slammed into a tree, destroying it and making splinters fly everywhere, and the familiar turned to the twelve-year-old, growling menacingly and poised to strike.

But, before it could, Conner slammed into the massive tiger-cat, hefting it up and throwing it down the path.

"Go!" Superboy shouted over his shoulder at Reese as he squared off against the familiar. "I've got this kitty-cat handled,"

Though she was still slightly worried about Conner, Superboy _was_ more indestructible than Silverbird was, so she turned back to Klarion's pentagram, just as the small jewel in the center of it, which Reese had noticed when the Team arrived, started to glow, lightning arcing out of it.

And the jewel suddenly having an electrical charge did _not_ seem to make Klarion happy.

"So..." the Lord of Chaos sneered as Reese crept up behind him, an arrow already drawn. She didn't think it would do much damage (it hadn't so far), but it was worth a try. "You've teamed up with the grown-ups. Teamwork's _so_ overrated,"

Klarion waved a hand just as Silverbird let go of her arrow, and bolts of lightning erupted from the gem, flying through the air and hitting members of the Team.

Kaldur used his Atlantean sorcery tattoos to redirect the lightning, but Reese and Dick were hit head-on, and they flew backward. Reese was 95% sure she blacked out for several seconds, maybe even minutes, because when she opened her eyes, Billy was with M'gann, and his voice was sounding inside her head.

' _That's so cool!'_ he was exclaiming, sounding excited, and vaguely, Reese wondered what he was talking about, but before she could think too much on it, his voice turned serious again. ' _I mean, it's the gem, at the center of the pentagram. Destroy it, and we win!_ '

' _That's all I needed to know,_ ' Zatanna spoke next, and when Silverbird turned around, she saw the young magician holding the Helmet of Fate in her hands, which the Team had disguised as a rock when they first got to Roanoke.

"Wait, Zatanna!" Reese cried out, holding out a hand. "Stop! You don't know what you're doing!"

"I know enough," the other girl responded simply before she pulled the Helmet onto her head. In a flash of light, Zatanna was gone, and in her place was Doctor Fate, though Zee's dark hair flowed from beneath the bottom of the Helmet.

Fate flew up into the air, and a golden holographic ankh appeared in the sky, just as Fate lurched towards the Lord of Chaos.

"Klarion!" the Doctor exclaimed, his voice a strange combination of Nabu's and Zatanna's own. They were nothing alike but spoke in unison with one another, resulting in an odd medley of tones. "This ends _now_!"

Klarion sneered at the appearance of his oldest enemy, as M'gann spoke to Billy again.

' _Billy, tell Zatara!'_ the Martian said hurriedly, and the younger boy gave a hurried agreement before yelling " _Shazam!"_ again and disappearing.

Klarion, meanwhile, sent a blast of reddish-white magic hurtling towards Zatanna/Fate, but the Doctor matched it with a golden magic blast of his own.

Robin was still out cold, and M'gann levitated him out of the way as the Team rendezvoused again. Reese crouched beside Dick, gently placing her hand on the side of his face. He'd be okay, but the Boy Wonder wouldn't be joining the fight again anytime soon.

"Go, Kid," Aqualad told Wally, just before the speedster ran in the opposite direction, _away_ from the fight, and for all of six seconds, Reese was thoroughly confused, but after a look from Kaldur, she realized that their leader probably had a plan.

Then, making sure that Robin wasn't going to end up going anywhere, Silverbird joined Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Doctor Fate in trying to break down Klarion's dome.

Since her arrows had done zero damage earlier, Reese decided to use her _other_ abilities, to see if they would be of any use, and let loose a Canary Cry, the hypersonic soundwave flying towards the red dome, and while the waves made the shield ripple as if it were a pond that someone just dropped a pebble into, there wasn't any more damage than that.

Klarion was getting more and more pissed off from Doctor Fate's own attacks, and made little balls of menacing red magic and started to toss them like tennis balls towards the Lord of Order, but as she glanced up at where Zatanna was still possessed by Nabu, Fate's form flickered, and for all of two seconds, Reese saw her magician friend again, before Doctor Fate was in Zee's place.

That little tidbit seemed to amuse Klarion immensely.

"Ha!" the Lord of Chaos cackled again triumphantly, his eyes turning to demonic pinpricks of red. "See? When the worlds divided, the _Helmet_ split too. You're not all _here_ , Nabu! And you're losing hold of that poor, innocent, soon-to-be-dead girl. Heh, she gave herself for nothing,"

" _No,_ Witch-Boy," Fate retorted, his voice still a weird mixture of Nabu's own and Zatanna's as he flew higher up in the air and summoned more magic. "Fate decrees her sacrifice will _not_ be in vain,"

The blast of magic hit Klarion's shield with the force of seventy freight-trains, and that, combined with the efforts of M'gann, who continued to throw even bigger boulders at the dome, Kaldur, who had turned his water-bearers into a sledgehammer and was uh... _hammering_ at the shield with it, and Reese, who let loose another sonic scream, Klarion wasn't able to keep up.

The magic shield dissipated around the Witch-Boy amidst Klarion's ensuing temper tantrum, and Fate summoned another ankh, throwing it towards the Lord of Chaos and trapping him like the stocks from the 1600s, if only for the moment.

"Now, Kid!" Aqualad shouted over his shoulder, and Wally sped in, running across the pentagram and grabbing the gem before Klarion had time to blink.

Ah, Reese realized. So _that_ had been Kaldur's plan. It always helped to have a speedster on the Team.

"Doc!" Wally skidded to a stop a ways away from Klarion and lobbed the gem up into the air, towards Doctor Fate. "Catch!"

Nabu caught it and started the spell that would-- _hopefully_ \--bring the two dimensions back together again.

"Yam eht owt emoceb eno ecno erom!" As soon as the spell was over, the pentagram glowed again, and four more sorcerers appeared on the other spots indicated in the immediate vicinity.

Silverbird wasn't surprised when she recognized them. Wotan, Felix Faust, Wizard, and Blackbriar Thorn. Reese wasn't sure _how_ Wotan had escaped from prison, since he had been captured with the rest of the Injustice League when the Team and Justice League fought them in the bayou, but whatever.

Speaking of the League, along with Klarion's fellow evil-magic-users, among the others that appeared were Batman, Zatara, and Red Tornado. Captain Marvel was there too, but Silverbird wasn't entirely sure if Billy counted as an adult _or_ a kid.

Klarion's buddies fell to the ground as soon as they appeared, and the Lord of Chaos glanced around, before shrugging and looking almost sheepish. 

"Well," he began. "They sure don't make evil immortal sorcerers like they used to. Oh well," Klarion then snapped his fingers, and the ankh he had been trapped in dissipated like blowing sand, and the Lord of Chaos stood up, brushing off his jacket. "Fun while it lasted. Teekl!" the familiar, who had been crouched over Superboy, growling in Conner's face, glanced up, and ran towards Klarion, shifting back into a tabby cat on the way. The cat jumped into Klarion's arms, just as the sorcerer made a portal appear in the air in front of him. Before he jumped through, Klarion glanced over his shoulder again. "See you later, armadillos! Unless I see you first," he exclaimed, before jumping through, cackling maniacally, and then he was gone.

"Aren't you going to stop him?" Wally asked, skidding to a stop in front of Doctor Fate, but Nabu just stared at him blankly.

"To what end?" he asked. "Klarion is chaos personified. He _cannot_ be contained,"

Seeing Robin stir from beside her, Reese helped him stand, and Dick winced, holding his ribs with his free hand.

"Ugh," he groaned, still a bit spacey after being knocked unconscious by the lightning. "Did we win?"

"At a cost," Kaldur said simply, and when Dick still looked a bit confused, Reese leaned over.

"Zatanna put on the Helmet of Fate," she explained quietly, and Robin winced again, glancing up at where Doctor Fate still hovered in the air as Zatara walked forward.

" _Fate_!" the older magician shouted. "Great Nabu, release my daughter,"

For several tension-filled seconds, Doctor Fate didn't speak, before finally, just when Reese thought the Lord of Order wouldn't say anything at all, Nabu gave his answer.

" _No_ ,"

Reese's eyes widened in shock, and she felt Robin tighten his grip around her shoulder as Doctor Fate gave an explanation for why exactly he _wasn't_ letting Zatanna go.

"Witness the havoc wrought in these hours," Nabu began. "The world _needs_ Doctor Fate, and the girl's natural affinity for the mystic arts makes her the perfect candidate,"

"You can't do that!" Artemis cried out.

"Yeah!" Reese agreed. "Zatanna has her own life to live! You can't just take that away from her! Kent would never allow--"

"Kent Nelson _did_ object," Nabu interrupted, turning to look down at Silverbird. " _Strenuously_. So I released his spirit to the afterlife. He is gone,"

Across the way, Reese saw Wally look stricken, and she knew that despite the short time the speedster had spent with the original host of Nabu when _he_ had put the helmet on in Salem, the two had been close.

Reese clenched her eyes shut, feeling tears well up in the corners. Kent had been _nice_ , and he was _willing_ to inhabit the Helmet for a little bit longer if only so Nabu would let both Wally _and_ Reese go. He had been the one who had given Reese the golden arrowheads in the first place, the arrowheads that were currently her and Dick's _lifeline,_ connecting them to each other.

She couldn't believe he was _gone_.

"Take me instead," Silverbird snapped her head up, to see Zatara standing in front of them all, his arms spread out. "My skills are _already_ at their peak. My body is physically stronger; better able to withstand the strain of your power,"

"All true," Fate retorted. "But if I remove the Helmet, what guarantees have I that you will don it?"

"My word," Zatara said simply, before spreading his arms even wider. "Ekat em daetsni,"

For a few seconds, Fate didn't move, and Reese began to fear that Zatara's bargain wouldn't be met, but then, Doctor Fate had landed in front of Zatanna's father, and Nabu took off the Helmet, Zatanna in control of her body once more.

When she saw her father standing in front of her, the young magician grinned, and she ran forward and embraced him.

"Remember," Zatara said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his daughter's forehead. "I love you," Then, after taking the Helmet of Fate out of Zatanna's hands, he turned to Batman and the other gathered heroes. "Take care of my girl,"

"You have _my_ word," the Dark Knight responded, before Zatara stepped back again, and raised the Helmet above his head.

"No!" Zatanna exclaimed, shrugging off the hand that Reese extended towards her. "This is my fault! Dad, don't! _Dad_!"

But, it was too late.

A flash of light and Zatara was gone. Turning away from Zatanna without a second glance, Doctor Fate flew up into the air and levitated the four captured sorcerers with him.

"Leave these to Fate," he said simply, and with another flash of light, all five were gone.

As soon as they disappeared, Zatanna fell to her knees, and Silverbird, Artemis, and Kid Flash all crouched beside her, trying to provide some semblance of comfort, but what they could do to help, none of them were really sure.

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
November 7, 09:16 EST**

The next morning, the Team was helping Zatanna move into the cave, this time permanently. 

When Reese had returned to Star City the night before, she had found her Dad in their apartment, and Oliver had hugged her so hard Reese almost couldn't breathe, but for once, Reese was okay with that. Because at least she _had_ her father, adoptive or not.

Zatanna though...

"My room's right next door," M'gann told Zatanna as she, Artemis, Reese, and Dick all set down boxes in Zee's new room. "If you need _anything_..."

"Thanks," Zatanna said quietly, giving M'gann a small smile before she glanced away. "But, right now, I'd like a little alone time, okay?"

"Of course," Artemis responded before they all started to walk out.

But, before she left, Reese paused in the doorway, glancing over her shoulder at where Zatanna was still standing in the center of the room. She knew what the black-haired girl was going through, losing her biological parents four years ago, but still...that pain? It never went away.

And, as she and Dick walked down the hallway behind Artemis and M'gann, Reese was able to hear Zatanna's sobs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reese is me whenever I have to speak in front of people. I literally had an anxiety attack a few years ago when I had to read one of my stories in front of a total stranger to get a summer scholarship for writing. I got the scholarship, but still...total nightmare.
> 
> I'm on Christmas break right now, so I will be writing a lot over the next two weeks, and hopefully, I will be able to finish the first part of this book by New Years' and start on my plan for the five-year gap. I have an outline for it and everything! 
> 
> I posted an announcement on my message board on Wattpad a few weeks ago (same username), but I did make a Disalyn Spotify playlist, and the link is still there if you want to check it out, it's the link in my bio.


	26. 24. Coldhearted

**M O U N T J U S T I C E  
November 11, 16:00 EST**

Reese liked snow. 

Really, she did. Sure, she was a West Coast girl at heart and preferred warmth and sunshine over any other sort of weather, but she wasn't completely opposed to winter. 

At least, within reason.

But, this was a little ridiculous. Star City got snow, every once in a while, but never _this_ early. So, when Reese woke up on the morning of November 11th to see large fluffy flakes of snow falling in front of her bedroom window, she knew _something_ had to be up, she just wasn't entirely sure what.

For the time being though, Reese was focusing on something else. Namely, making the final touches to Wally's surprise 16th birthday party before the speedster got to Mount Justice, though the brunette wasn't sure she could really classify this as a _surprise_ party since Wally had not-so-subtly been leaving "hints" and such about it for the last week.

But, regardless, the Team still threw one for him, and at the moment, Reese was standing on Dick's shoulders as the Boy Wonder balanced on the edge of the kitchen counter, trying to clip the final corner of a Happy Birthday banner to the ceiling as everyone else situated the gathered birthday presents, balloons, and cake around the common room.

"You sure you can do this?" Robin whispered, glancing up at Reese as he held her ankles, keeping the younger girl in place so she wouldn't fall. "KF is gonna be here in a few minutes,"

"That's exactly why I _have_ to do this," Reese retorted, finally managing to clip the banner onto the hook stuck to the ceiling. "So Wally's party doesn't look half-finished,"

Suddenly, and because Silverbird had been listening in case Wally arrived early, from the main cave, the Zeta tube turned on.

**_Recognized Kid Flash B-0-4  
Zeta Tube Network Now Off-Line Due To Extreme Atmospheric Conditions_ **

"He's here!" Reese hissed, and she shifted, trying to turn around, but in doing so, she spun Dick around, and both of them tumbled off the counter and would've alerted the speedster to their presence, had Conner not lurched forward at the last second and caught them both.

"You guys okay?" Superboy asked once Robin and Silverbird had steadied themselves, and Reese and Dick both gave nods, just before M'gann turned off the lights, plunging the common room into darkness.

And not a moment too soon, because three seconds later, Wally walked into the darkened common room, bundled up in a parka.

"Wow," the speedster said, though Reese was able to detect the mocking tone in his voice. "It'd be a _tragedy_ if I missed my own--"

Before he could continue, Miss M flicked the lights on again, momentarily blinding Kid Flash, as everyone else shouted " _Surprise!"_ in unison.

When he got his bearings again, Wally grinned and placed one of his hands against his chest.

"Aw, you guys!" he exclaimed, still trying to seem as if hadn't already totally seen this coming. "You shouldn't have,"

"Right," Robin grinned in response, crossing his arms. "Not like you've been hinting for _days_ or anything,"

With that, everyone gathered around the common room's coffee table, where two one-layer cakes, both stuck with birthday candles sat, and Wally plopped down in front of them, a birthday hat already tied to his head.

"We made two cakes," M'gann said as she crouched next to him, lighting the candles, and Wally grinned again.

"Awesome!" he exclaimed, before glancing at the martian. "What will you guys eat?"

"We'll split the cupcakes," M'gann explained. "Make a wish,"

" _Way_ ahead of you," Wally told her, and Reese, despite the fact that she thought it was kind of sad that Wally still had some feelings for M'gann (even though everyone else knew that the martian and Superboy were dating), hid a giggle from behind her hand.

Wally liked to think that his flirting skills were off the charts, but, in actuality, they were severely lacking. Not that they were bad, but the redhead was too forward and brazen in his advances for Reese's taste.

After he had blown out his candles, Wally leaned over to M'gann again.

"You know," the speedster began. "If I _tell_ you my wish, it won't come true. But if you guess..." Wally trailed off as M'gann finished cutting him a slice of cake, blatantly leaving his question open for interpretation, but as she handed him the small plate, Wally just shook his head. " _Nope_ ," he said simply. "Guess again,"

Reese couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes as Dick snickered from beside her. Seriously, she knew Wally wasn't really one to pick up on signals that people were sending him, but _really_? Couldn't he see that M'gann only thought of him as a friend?

Glancing across the room, Reese narrowed her eyes in thought as she noticed Artemis looking fairly ticked at Wally's disastrous flirting attempts. Then, when M'gann kissed the speedster's forehead (definitely not the birthday kiss Wally had been expecting), the blonde turned around again, smirking.

Grabbing onto Dick's arm, Reese shook him for a couple of seconds, and the Boy Wonder stared at the brunette as if she had just said she was turning evil as his eyeballs bounced around inside his head.

"What?" he asked, wondering what had Reese so riled up, and the brunette turned to him with a wide grin.

"Artemis likes Wally," she said simply, dark eyes sparkling, and Dick quirked an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked again, flicking his eyes above Reese's head so he'd be able to see the blonde archer himself. "Seriously?"

"Yes!" Reese exclaimed, keeping her voice down so the rest of the Team wouldn't hear because there was always the off-chance that she was wrong about this. "I mean, I don't know _how_ I didn't notice it before, I mean with how KF reacted when Artemis died during the training simulation, and then M'gann was talking to me about how they were acting close when all the adults disappeared and--"

"Pretty bird," Dick softly cut the girl off, taking her face in his hands, because she had started to babble, and Robin knew that when Reese really started talking about something, she'd never stop. "You're rambling,"

"Right," Reese said, taking a deep breath and stopping her existential realization, before reaching up and gently holding Dick's wrists, though she didn't pull away. "Right. I mean...wow, I _really_ didn't see that one coming,"

"Who? Wally and Artemis?" Dick clarified, and after a moment, Reese nodded, which in turn prompted the Boy Wonder to give a small shrug. "I can see it. I think Artemis kind of balances him. You know, cancels out the whole--"

"Speedster exuberance?" At Reese's explanation, Dick gave a small laugh, nodding.

"Yeah," he said simply. "Cancels out his ' _speedster exuberance_ '," As the two of them stood in the common room, Reese tilted her head to the side again and met Dick's eye.

"When'd you get to be such an expert on relationships, Boy Wonder?" she asked, and Dick's face suddenly flushed as he scratched the back of his neck.

"There's, uh," Dick began, seeming almost hesitant to answer, though why he was like that, Reese wasn't sure, because normally, Dick Grayson was full of confidence. "There's this girl..."

If Reese said that what Dick had said didn't bother her, she'd be lying. 

"A girl?" she echoed, trying not to let her feelings show in her voice. Reese had told Dinah that she was in love with Dick back after the training simulation when they had all done their grief assessments, but she hadn't told _him_ yet.

And then there was the whole thing after the adults had disappeared when Robin had said that he could kiss her, but...God, Reese was so confused.

Dick, though, seemed oblivious to her inner mental turmoil and was currently gushing about whoever this "girl" was, and Reese hated to admit it, but she was jealous.

"She's so beautiful," the Boy Wonder was saying, as Reese glanced back at him. "And _way_ too good for me, I honestly don't even know why's she's friends with me, she could do so much better, but I can't--I can't imagine my life without her,"

"She sounds pretty special," Reese said quietly, and Dick suddenly got this big, dopey smile on his face, and Reese swore she could feel her heart start to break.

"Yeah," the Boy Wonder spoke wistfully in agreement, and Reese glanced down at her shoes. "Yeah, she is," Suddenly glancing at the girl next to him, Dick saw that she looked pretty miserable, and he mentally started to panic. "Rhysalin, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Reese answered quickly, taking a deep breath as she stood up straight again. "I'm--I'm going to go talk to Zatanna,"

The young magician in question was standing off to the side by herself, away from everybody else, and Reese knew she was still struggling to fit in at the cave after losing her dad to Nabu.

Ignoring the worried look that Dick sent her as she walked away from him, Reese grabbed a slice of cake from the coffee table and walked across the room until she stood next to the older girl.

Zatanna glanced at her as Reese handed over the small plate, and the brunette could see that the magician was decidedly _not_ in a birthday party mood at the moment. To be fair, she wasn't either.

"Are you getting settled in okay?" Reese asked quietly, and Zatanna tilted her head to the side.

"Oh, yeah," she told the brunette, not one bit convincing. "It's just like home,"

"Look," Reese continued after a moment, trying her best to be reassuring. "I know it's hard to be the new girl in a place like this--" she waved her hand around the common room, and decided to go for the humorous side of things. "But, one day, I _promise_ , you _will_ get used to watching Wally eat,"

Wally was Reese's friend, even though the two butted heads more often than not, but regardless of whether or not Reese had known the speedster for years and years, that didn't mean that _she_ had ever gotten used to seeing the way the redhead ate. It was absolutely _disgusting_.

Suddenly, Artemis walked up to the two, glancing behind the other two girls to where Wally was _still_ trying to make M'gann realize he wanted her to kiss him. It was actually sort of sad, how hard the speedster was trying to make his move.

"Think we should tell him?" the blonde asked, jerking her head in the redhead's general direction as Robin walked up next to them, but Reese ignored the look Dick sent her to instead turn towards Wally.

"You're getting warmer, babe," the speedster said to M'gann, who was cutting another slice of cake. "But, I can make you warmer still,"

"He _is_ the only one who doesn't know," Dick added, shrugging, and Artemis smirked again.

"Then, please," the blonde began, gently pushing in between Reese and Artemis to walk towards Wally. " _Allow me_ ,"

As the other archer began to explain to Kid Flash why he would _never_ end up dating the Team's resident Martian, Reese felt someone tug on her hand, and she turned to see Dick staring at her, eyebrows creased behind his sunglasses.

"I think _we_ ," he began. "need to talk,"

Though she wasn't really in the mood for a conversation with Robin at the moment, the twelve-year-old allowed herself to be led out of the common room and out into the hallway, where the two of them stood against a wall, out of earshot of Conner.

"What's wrong?" Dick asked finally, and Reese sighed as she leaned against the wall next to him, crossing her arms.

"Nothing," the brunette answered shortly, though she _did_ avoid meeting Dick's eyes. "I'm fine,"

"Pardon my French, pretty bird," Dick retorted after a moment. "But that's bullshit,"

Reese turned to look at Robin now, slightly shocked, and after glancing down the hallway to make sure no one was nearby, Dick took off his sunglasses and slid them into his pocket.

"I know _you_ , Rhysalin," he said quietly, his dark blue eyes shining under the corridor's ceiling lights. "Don't lie to me. I'm your friend, I know when you're hurting, and I know when something's _wrong_. Please, let me help you,"

That was the problem. She and Dick were _friends_. Even if Reese wanted to be more than that, aside from him suddenly falling out of love with this "other girl", Reese didn't know what Dick would be able to do to help.

"Boy Wonder," she began slowly, looking down at the floor. "You don't understand. I don't know if you _can_ help," 

If she had looked up, Reese would've seen the stricken expression that overtook Dick's face, but before he could say anything in response, both of them looked up as Batman's voice came through the cave's PA system.

" _Attention Team,_ " the Dark Knight began. " _Suit up:_ _polar stealth. Mission briefing in five_ ,"

Giving a heavy sigh, Reese pushed off from the wall and turned back to face Dick, who was still leaning against the smooth stone.

"Explain it to me," he said, throwing his arms out to the side, and Reese could see he was trying not to lose his temper. "I want to help, and I can't--I can't _stand_ to see you hurting, pretty bird. Please, Rhysalin, tell me what's wrong,"

"We have a mission, Dick," Reese said simply, starting to back away. "I gotta go,"

When she entered the locker room where Artemis was already starting to change into her snowsuit, the blonde gave Reese a look as the younger girl walked in.

"What happened?" the other girl asked as Reese pulled her suit out from the locker it had been stashed in. "I saw you and Robin leave the party before Batman called. Anything happen?"

"No," Reese answered simply as she switched out of her civvies into her winter-mode Silverbird suit. "Nothing at all,"

"You're sure?" Artemis asked, sounding skeptical, and Reese gave a sharp nod as she laced up her snow boots, grabbing her bow and quiver before reaching for the pair of Dick's old eskrima sticks that she had used when she, Artemis, and Zatanna had fought Harm at Halloween.

For a moment, Silverbird debated on grabbing them, but right now, she wanted _nothing_ to do with Dick Grayson, so instead of grabbing the two small batons, she left them in her locker and took off her thigh holster, tossing that in too before slamming the door shut, barely remembering to grab a few hair ties before the door had closed.

To say her mood had soured would be a gross understatement, and Artemis ran after Reese as she exited the locker room, catching up quickly.

"Are you okay?" Artemis questioned, and Reese subconsciously gritted her teeth together, her braid bouncing against her shoulder. "You seem a little--"

"I'm _fine_!" she exclaimed finally, whipping around to glare at Artemis. "Why can't you and everybody else _accept_ that?"

Artemis, for several seconds, looked shocked, and Reese took that opportunity to walk into the main cave, where a large holo-screen with Batman's face on it was hovering in the center of the room.

In the back of her mind, Silverbird noticed that Flash, who had been at Wally's birthday party too, had disappeared, but she didn't think too much about it.

She could feel Robin staring at her as she entered the room, and while usually, she would've immediately gone to stand next to him, but instead, the brunette walked over and stood in between Artemis and Kid Flash, with Wally looking a little bit freaked out as Reese suddenly popped up next to him.

"Where's Flash?" the speedster asked, turning to look at the holo-screen once he got over his shock, but, per usual, Bruce's expression didn't change.

" _Flash and Red Tornado already have their assignments_ ," the Dark Knight explained brusquely. " _A massive ice storm has paralyzed North America from coast to coast_ ,"

Well, Reese realized, that explained the snow in Star City this morning. And as Batman continued his explanation, another hologram appeared in the cave, this time of a big black building-looking thing that was spitting snow out of massive vents at the bottom.

" _Satellite imagery has detected five flying...ice fortresses, source unknown, which seem to be responsible and must be stopped,_"

"Can't the Watchtower blow them out of the sky or something?" Wally asked, and Reese elbowed him in the ribs at the slip-up, but it was too late.

"What's a _Watchtower_?" Zatanna asked, glancing at Robin, and Batman heaved a sigh as he turned his head to the side.

" _The League's orbiting headquarters_ ," he began. " _Is not weaponized. And with both Green Lanterns off-world, I need all hands on deck,_"

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Dick asked, walking forward a few steps so he was closer to the holo-screen and grinning. "The League _and_ the Team fighting side-by-side?"

"Whoa!" Wally exclaimed after a moment, pumping his fists in the air. "Really?"

" _Superboy_ ," Bruce ignored Wally's question, but Reese had a feeling that was just because he wanted to finish the mission before the ice storm got any worse. " _Take the Super-Cycle and rendezvous with the Batplane at Ice Fortress-1. You'll drop off Robin, Silverbird, and Aqualad, then continue on with Wolf to rendezvous with Black Canary and Red Tornado at Ice Fortress-2. Miss Martian, Artemis, and Zatanna: take the Bioship and rendezvous with Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter at Ice Fortress-3. Other Leaguers will deal with Fortresses-4 and -5. Sending all coordinates now,_ "

It took Silverbird all of two seconds to realize that Batman hadn't given any sort of assignment to Kid Flash _and_ that she'd be working with Robin at the Ice Fortress. 

_Great_. 

Reese knew she wasn't being objective, and that she needed to focus on the mission at hand, but she couldn't find it in herself to be able to. The _last_ thing she wanted right now was to be working with Dick, because if she _did_ , then Reese _knew_ she'd end up getting distracted, and thus be putting the mission as a whole at risk.

Again, from the corner of her eye, the brunette saw Robin turn and glance at her, probably mentally willing her to look over at him, but again, Reese ignored him. She didn't want to deal with her feelings right now. She _couldn't_ deal with her feelings right now, because they had bigger things to deal with.

Wally, meanwhile, had noticed that he hadn't been given orders either, and he shot his hand up into the air again.

"Uh...Batman?" the speedster asked, walking forward. "I think you _skipped_ \--"

" _Kid Flash,_ " the Dark Knight continued after a moment, and Silverbird saw Wally grin and rub his hands together in excitement. " _A young girl in Seattle is in desperate need of a heart transplant. With all conventional air traffic grounded by the storm, you'll need to pick up the donor heart in Boston, and run it 3,000 miles cross-country,_ "

"Who is this girl?" Wally exclaimed in protest, looking _decidedly_ less excited than when Batman had first started the mission briefing, but even Reese thought his statement was a bit crass.

" _Does it matter_?" Batman retorted sharply, and Kid Flash looked down at his feet.

"No," he answered after a moment. "Of course not. But, can't we zeta--"

"Zeta tubes are offline," Robin cut in from his spot across the room, his voice very snappish, pretty much due to the fact that Reese was still ignoring him. "Sorry,"

" _Right_ ," Wally added, trying to muster up a smile, but it wasn't very convincing. "Then, how can I say no? _Guess_ I won't be needing _stealth_ ," KF tapped his fist against the emblem on his costume, and the common yellow-and-red returned before Wally glanced up at the holo-screen again. "Speedy delivery boy," he began. "At your service,"

"Batman!" Silverbird suddenly called out, before the Dark Knight was able to cut the communication feed. "You'll have almost every available Leaguer and Team member trying to destroy the Ice Fortresses. Can I go with Kid Flash instead to try and save the girl in Seattle?"

For several seconds, the cave, and Batman, was dead-silent, as everyone stared at Reese in absolute shock, before finally, Robin huffed, crossing his arms.

"You're not a speedster, Reese," he stated the obvious, but the brunette just gave the Boy Wonder a glare that would've usually made Dick back down, had he not been as mad as she was.

"I'm light," she retorted sharply. "KF can carry me. Right?" 

This time, Reese glanced at Wally, who quickly held up his hands, not _really_ wanting to get between whatever argument the two birds had managed to get themselves in. But, after a few seconds, the speedster scratched the back of his neck.

"Uh, yeah," the redhead said slowly, ignoring the subsequent glare that Robin sent _his_ way, angry that Wally was taking Reese's side in this--whatever this was. "It'd help to have someone to talk to as I deliver the heart, too,"

" _Then it's settled,_ " Batman said simply, ignoring the way that Dick turned away and threw his arms up in the air. " _Silverbird will go with Kid Flash and deliver the heart to Seattle, while Superboy takes Robin and Aqualad to Ice Fortress-1. Get ready, Team. Batman out,_ "

With that, the holo-screen disappeared, and for a few seconds, the rest of the Team glanced between Robin and Silverbird, wondering what exactly had happened, before both birds turned in opposite directions and began to walk away from each other.

As she and Wally neared the hangar door, Reese pulled up the collar of her polar-stealth suit, using a piece of fabric to cover the bottom half of her face, and tapping the side of her domino mask, allowing lenses to slide over the eye-holes. 

She'd be moving at super-speed in the middle of a synthetic snowstorm, she didn't want to freeze to death. And getting snow-blindness was _not_ something she wanted either.

The hangar door lowered, and Kid Flash scooped Silverbird up so he was holding her bridal-style, and Reese looped her arms around Wally's neck as he sped both of them out of the cave, Batman's voice sounding in their commlinks when they exited Mount Justice.

" _Law enforcement across the country has been alerted to your mission, and is clearing your route,_ " the Dark Knight began, as KF shifted the brunette in his arms and tapped at his gauntlet, a map appearing on the small LED screen, with a line running from Boston to Seattle.

As Wally ran across the snow-covered ground, Reese saw the Bioship fly overhead, before the Super-Cycle flew beside them for a few moments.

Glancing over, for all of two seconds, Silverbird finally met Robin's gaze, though Dick looked away again as Conner flew Sphere higher up in the air.

"Hmph," Wally muttered in Reese's ear, and the brunette turned her head to look at him. "Lucky stiffs,"

If she and Dick weren't avoiding each other at the moment, Reese would've been sad to miss the team-up between the Team and Justice League too, but what she and Wally were doing was important as well.

" _So_..." the speedster began after a couple of minutes of running, and Silverbird quirked an eyebrow behind her mask, wondering who had taught Wally subtlety because he _definitely_ needed a refresher course. "You wanna tell me what was up with the whole thing with you and Dick back in the cave?"

"No," Reese's answer was curt, and it made Wally blink before he glanced at her from the corner of her eye.

"No?" he echoed, but after a few seconds, in which the brunette didn't speak, Kid Flash turned back to look where he was going. "Okay, good talk,"

**B O S T O N  
November 11, 16:26 EST**

The duo's first stop was in Massachusetts because this was where Reese and Wally would _pick up_ the heart, and _then_ Kid Flash would run it across the country to Seattle.

Luckily, it seemed as if Batman's message had gone through, because as Silverbird and Kid Flash ran through the streets of Boston, almost all of the cars were securely on the sides of the road, out of their pather.

Of course, that was until they got to a series of overpasses, where traffic was pretty much bumper-to-bumper, and through the blowing snow, Reese was able to see that a delivery van was blocking the route, and even though several members of the sheriff department were trying to get it out of the way, they weren't having much luck.

"Put your backs into it!" one of the officers shouted as KF and Silverbird neared the van. "We need to clear this road!"

"Too late, too late," Wally muttered, before glancing at Reese again. "Hold on,"

The brunette tightened her hold on the speedster, just as Wally vaulted off the side of a stalled school bus, leaping across the roofs of a few parked cars and the delivery van before landing on the road again.

Finally, Wally skidded to a stop at the entrance to Boston General's Emergency Room, where a doctor and three orderlies were standing outside, waiting for them.

"Someone order a pizza?" the redhead asked, and Silverbird smacked her hand against his chest as one of the orderlies handed her the container the donor heart was in.

The doctor, also, was _not_ impressed by Kid Flash's humor as Reese slipped the backpack-like container over her shoulders, shifting her quiver so she'd be able to carry both.

"What you're delivering is _considerably_ more precious to a girl whose life depends on it," the doctor said firmly.

" _Duh_ ," Wally clarified, turning around again. "I meant did someone order a pizza for _me_? A guy burns a lot of calories running a few mph shy of the speed of _sound,"_

Reese smacked him again, making the redhead wince as he rubbed his arm, and the doctor sent him a look, signifying that _no,_ she had _not_ bought him a pizza.

"Listen," the older woman said, fixing both Silverbird and Kid Flash with a steady gaze. "This pack is heavily insulated to shock-absorption, but that _doesn't_ mean the organ within needs _any_ extraneous jostling," the doctor shifted the pack on Reese's back for a moment before stepping back again.

"So no krumping," Wally piped up. "Got it," 

Reese was beginning to wonder if she had jumped the gun, so to speak, by offering to accompany Kid Flash on his own mission, but it was too late now to back out, and even so, Reese didn't really want to.

The doctor wasn't impressed either.

"Your PDA?" she asked, and Wally held up his wrist, where the doctor set a time. "The two of you have _four hours_ to deliver the heart before it's no longer viable. Is that clear?"

Silverbird gave a small nod, realizing that she and Kid Flash were on a rapidly decreasing deadline, but the speedster _still_ wasn't taking this seriously.

"As crystal, babe," the redhead smirked, earning another smack from Reese before the doctor fixed them both with another stare.

"Then, _go_ ," the doctor told them, before Wally scooped Reese up again, and bolted from the hospital's entrance, heading west along the route that Batman had indicated, heading out of Boston and towards Seattle.

Hopefully, the two would be able to make it in time.

**C H I C A G O  
** **November 11, 16:49 CST**

It was an odd sensation, moving at superspeed.

Reese supposed that Wally was used to it by now, even though he had received his powers from essentially blowing himself up, but the brunette didn't think she'd _ever_ be used to it.

Every once in a while, since the two of them had met, Kid Flash would take Silverbird and spin her around, and while Reese had never really been one for motion sickness, _that_ always made her nauseous.

But, as Wally ran through the streets of Chicago, focused on getting to Washington before they ran out of time, Reese was impressed to see that he was fairly calm about the whole situation, and hadn't taken time to stop for any distractions.

The two of them were making good time too, considering. Only one-hour-and-twenty-two minutes had passed since Silverbird and Kid Flash had left Boston, and they were already over a third of the way there.

"We're making good time," Reese said quietly, glancing at Wally's gauntlet as he held it up. If the brunette spoke any louder, her breath would've been ripped away from her at the speed Wally was running, but considering the two were right next to each other, she didn't need to raise her voice.

"Yeah," the redhead agreed, before grinning. "And if I _push_ it, we could probably meet up with the others at one of the ice fortresses when we're done saving this girl,"

"Are you sure you won't overwork yourself?" Reese asked as the two of them sped by a group of police officers who had managed to clear the road, giving no more traffic stops like the one in Boston. "You're a speedster, sure, but you don't want to die of exhaustion,"

"Pssh," Wally retorted. "You sound like my uncle. Plus, look!" the speedster held up his gauntlet again, where the security feed from the Watchtower was showing an ice fortress.

Coincidentally, it was the same ice fortress where Robin was currently with Batman, Aqualad, Aquaman, and Flash.

On top of the fortress, there were several blasters shooting at the heroes as they weaved across it, and Dick leaped over one of them, setting a birdarang on top of it and making the blaster explode.

While Aquaman lifted up one of the metal panels on the surface of the fortress to use as a shield, Kaldur vaulted off of his mentor's shoulder, using his water-bearer like a whip and destroying another blaster.

Then, Flash sped in, running in circles around a third blaster before finally, the weapon was spun so far around that it broke off the base.

"Aw, come on!" Wally exclaimed grumpily, making Reese tear her eyes away from the security feed to look back at the irate protege. "Robin and Aqualad, _with_ Batman, Aquaman, and _Flash_? Who's missing from this picture?"

"Us, KF," Silverbird answered unnecessarily, making Kid Flash send her a look. "Since we were both supposed to be there with them,"

"Oh, yeah," Wally said, before tilting his head to the side as he ran over the snow-covered streets. "Hey, why'd you want to come with me, anyway? You said it was because Batman had every ice fortress covered, but I _know_ that wasn't it because you and Dick would never pass up on a chance to work together just because everyone else was working the same mission, even if Arrow and Canary were somewhere else,"

But, Reese just looked away, not noticing the worried look that KF got on his face as he noticed the twelve-year-old's sudden mood change. Reese wasn't ready to talk about what had happened, _especially_ not with Wally, Dick's other best friend, so she did what she always did when she didn't want to deal with her own problems.

She shut up and stopped talking, and instead turned to look at the road where they were running, only to gasp and grab onto Kid Flash's arm.

"Wally!" she shouted, and the speedster snapped his eyes forward again to see that there was a several vehicle pile-up at the bridge in front of them, blocking their route.

"Uh-oh," Kid Flash said quickly, before glancing at Reese. "Hold on!" he told her again, before leaping over the first couple of cars, then running up the bottom of a flipped-over school bus and over the top of the bridge.

Wally then veered off the main road, away from their set route, and onto a side street, where several brightly lit signs advertising various fast food hung on either side of the street.

Reese had to admit, she _was_ hungry, having not eaten anything since breakfast (birthday had never really been her thing--she hated frosting), but she knew she probably wasn't as hungry as Wally was, considering that Reese wasn't the one with the super-fast hypermetabolism.

Before long though, KF sped down an embankment, and the two of them were back on the road, heading towards Seattle again.

"I wish I had some snacks for you," Silverbird spoke softly, making Kid Flash glance over at her. "It can't be easy, carrying me 3,000 miles across the country,"

But, Wally only shrugged. "Nah," he said nonchalantly as he ran down the highway. "You're light. Barely more than a featherweight,"

"I doubt that," Reese retorted, giving a small smile. "But...thanks, Wally,"

"Would you look at that?" the speedster grinned. "I made you smile. I call _that_ an improvement in the Wall-man's book,"

"You're a dork," Reese told him, but Wally only winked at her.

"The ladies love it," he shot back teasingly, and Reese couldn't help but laugh. 

Wally West had never been her type when concerning potential boyfriends, but Reese couldn't deny the fact that the over-exuberant speedster was, in fact, her friend.

And she was glad for that.

**S O U T H D A K O T A  
** **November 11, 16:13 MST**

Thirty minutes later, the two of them were speeding through the western side of South Dakota, and the snow was coming down even thicker, and it had gotten cold enough that Silverbird had started to shiver.

Sure, her polar-stealth suit was literally _designed_ for enduring almost sub-zero temperatures, and there was thermal threading used in the costume in order to keep her warm, but Reese was moving at almost eight hundred miles per hour, and the wind had started to bite at her exposed skin.

Luckily, being a speedster, Wally's body temperature always ran a little hotter than a normal person, so his natural warmth was appreciated, but still.

As the two of them ran underneath a bridge, through the blowing snow, Reese saw, or at least, she thought she saw, a man holding someone else by a throat.

Grabbing onto Kid Flash's shoulder, she alerted the speedster, but judging from the look on Wally's face, he had noticed the odd occurrence too.

Hanging a quick u-turn, Wally turned around and went back the way he and Reese had come, and as they neared the spot, Reese managed to see exactly who was responsible for--whatever had happened.

_Vandal Savage._

Reese had to admit, she was surprised. Fighting random cops in Midwest didn't really seem like Savage's M.O., and considering the brunette had read up on him before with Dick, she knew he was usually up to something... _bigger_.

"Throw me!" she shouted suddenly, and Wally turned to look at the brunette as if she were crazy, but Reese just rolled her eyes. "Trust me!" she told him, and while the speedster was still looking a bit skeptical, he sighed heavily in defeat.

"Fine," he muttered."But please, if you die, don't come and haunt me, because Dick will kill _me_ if I let something happen to you," 

Then, he tossed Reese through the air, and she threw her foot out, catching Savage in the abdomen and throwing him back, making the villain drop the officer he was holding back into the snow.

Savage, though, was remarkably durable, and he stood to his feet a couple of seconds later, facing off with Silverbird and Kid Flash.

Wally glanced over his shoulder at the police officers who had started to climb to their feet and waved his arm at them.

"Go!" he shouted. "Get out of here! Silverbird and I will handle Vandal,"

"You'll _handle_ me?" Savage echoed, before reaching out with both hands and grabbing Wally and Reese by their heads, lifting the two up so all three were eye-level with each other. "Little heroes," Savage admonished them. "Do you really think you have what it takes to survive _Vandal Savage_?"

But, before Savage was able to do whatever it was that he was planning on doing with her and Kid Flash, Silverbird struck, kicking up with one leg and slamming her boot into the inside of Vandal Savage's wrist. He may have been wearing a massive glove on his hand, but Reese kicked with enough force that the nerve endings constricted, making Savage let go of her.

Then, Silverbird spun around, pivoting on her left leg to throw her right straight at Savage's diaphragm, knocking the wind out of the villain, if only for a moment, and causing him to drop Kid Flash.

Wally leaped straight up in the air and tucked into a barrel roll before straightening again and slamming both of his feet straight into Savage's face.

In Savage's moment of distraction, Reese ran forward, and while Vandal tried to throw his fist at her, the brunette saw it coming, and leaned backward, sliding on her knees underneath his arm. 

She tried to grab Savage's ankle, but he dodged her hand at the last second, spinning around and backhanding Reese so hard she quite literally _flew_ through the air and would've probably broken some bones when she landed, had Wally not sped forward and caught her.

"This guy is _so_ going down," At Kid Flash's cranky-sounding grumble, Silverbird glanced over at him, but she didn't disagree. Whatever Savage was up to, he deserved to be put in prison for it.

"When I heard authorities were cordoning off this highway for a speedster and archer, I assumed I'd be confronting Flash and Green Arrow themselves," Savage smirked as Wally and Reese crouched several yards away from him. "Those two owe me a reckoning. But, I suppose I must settle for making them miserable by killing their bratty little _sidekicks_ , instead,"

Flicking her eyes to where the state troopers had been tossed beyond Savage, closer to the bridge, Silverbird was relieved to see that they were leaving.

Glancing at Kid Flash, who gave her a small nod in response, Reese found herself smirking. Now, it was time to show Vandal Savage what a pair of " _bratty little sidekicks_ "could really do.

While Wally ran off in the opposite direction from the fight, hoping to catch Savage off-guard by making him think that the teenage speedster was running away, Reese stayed behind, letting loose a Canary Cry at Savage that, while it didn't incapacitate him completely, did make him slide backward over the snow several more yards, and though he tried to hide it, the villain did indeed grab at his ears as the hypersonic soundwaves from Reese's vocal cords assaulted his eardrums.

From over Savage's shoulder, Silverbird saw a cloud of snow getting closer, and she assumed it was Kid Flash, running back.

Vandal, following her sightline and turned around, just as Wally slammed into him, throwing the bad guy back even further along the road. But, as Savage managed to get to his feet _again_ , Reese huffed out a breath and turned to look at Wally.

"We're not making any progress," she said quietly. "He's like a brick wall,"

"Maybe," Kid Flash piped up. "We just need a new approach. Wait for an opening, and then shoot him,"

Before giving Silverbird a chance to ask him what the hell he was thinking, the speedster sped forward again and began to literally run circles around Vandal Savage, kicking up the snow around him into a sort of wintry cyclone.

"You're _truly_ running circles around me," Savage smirked. "How will I cope?" Suddenly, Reese saw his entire body tense.

By the time Vandal had started to move, lurching towards the place where Wally was going to be next, Silverbird was already halfway there.

Reese rammed her shoulder into Savage's abdomen, and while she was less than half his size, her intervention provided a good enough distraction for KF to pinball off of the villain from behind.

"Not coping so well _now_ , are you, Vandal?" Silverbird smirked, earning another sneer from Savage, just as a high-pitched beeping noise came from the general direction of Kid Flash, and Reese sent Wally a sparing glance, just as the redhead looked at his gauntlet, and Reese's stomach dropped.

God, the _time_. What were she and Wally _doing_? If Silverbird had done her math right, she and Kid Flash now had just under _two hours_ to get to Seattle in time to use the heart.

They couldn't waste their time battling _Vandal Savage_.

Glancing up again at Wally, Reese sent the speedster a look, just as KF stopped running circles around Savage, grabbed Silverbird again, and sped away down the road.

Despite what their entire sense of identity stood for, not everything a hero did was fighting bad guys and putting them behind bars. It was protecting civilians too, and right now, there was a girl in Seattle who was in immediate danger of dying if Reese and Wally didn't get her a new donor heart soon.

And they needed to get there _fast_.

**M O N T A N A  
** **November 11, 17:09 MST**

The snow had been getting heavier the further Kid Flash ran up into the Rocky Mountains, and it was also getting even colder. 

Reese had forgotten to put on her face mask again after she and Wally had abandoned Vandal Savage, and she undoubtedly had frostbite at this point.

KF must have noticed her shivering because he reached over and pulled the fabric up so it was covering the bottom half of Reese's face. The thermal threading inside had started to work again, and the brunette welcomed the given heat.

"We wasted about fifteen minutes on Savage," the speedster piped up after a few minutes as he glanced at his gauntlet again. "But, I _know_ we can _still_ reach Seattle on time,"

"You're out of snacks too," Reese whispered, having noticed Wally's empty storage container in his other gauntlet a few minutes ago. "At this point, you're running on fumes,"

"We both are," KF murmured, before scoffing. "Of course, fighting Vandal Savage didn't help with _that_ either. But, forget the hunger, forget the freezing temp, _forget_ the windchill--"

"I don't think I _can_ forget the windchill," Reese muttered through Wally's surprisingly inspirational monologue as she shivered again. "It's _cold_ , Wally,"

"I know, Reese," the redhead said quietly, and even though he couldn't phase, Kid Flash vibrated his hands, sending more warmth into Silverbird's scarily cold body as the brunette started to curl in on herself in an effort to conserve her own body heat. "I know,"

Wally realized that he _really_ needed to hurry his fast butt up, not just for the girl in Seattle, but for Reese too.

Because Silverbird had started to freeze.

**S E A T T L E  
November 11, 17:05 PST**

He managed to get through the Rockies, past Idaho, and across the entire state of Washington in the span of an hour, and Wally swore he almost cried when he finally reached the city limits of Seattle.

He knew he was running out of time, though. Silverbird had gone silent around Yakima, and while that wasn't entirely unusual for the younger girl, she had also stopped moving, and Kid Flash _knew_ that he didn't just need to get the heart to the hospital, he needed to get Reese there too.

Because he was 90% sure that Reese had hypothermia, and despite his best efforts to keep the petite brunette warm, running at the speed of sound across the country in the middle of a subzero blizzard most definitely had _not_ helped.

But, as Wally neared the hospital, Silverbird suddenly stirred, and she blinked her eyes open, only when Kid Flash met her gaze, he was undeniably shocked when he saw the brunette's eyes were gold instead of brown.

The speedster knew that Reese's eyes changed to silver whenever she spoke a foreign language, which was _undeniably_ cool, but he had never seen the young girl's eyes turn to gold before.

" _Robin..._ " Silverbird speaking was good, it meant she wasn't entirely frozen, but she did look a little delirious, and her eyes weren't focusing, which was bad.

"Dick's not here," Kid Flash told her quietly as he ran through the streets. "It's me, Reese. It's Wally,"

"Right..." Reese said quietly, and when she blinked, her eyes returned to normal, and though her shivering had stopped, Wally also knew that meant her hypothermia was getting worse. "I-I knew that,"

"We need to get you warm," The redhead said, glancing up to see the lights of the hospital appearing in the distance. "We're almost there, Reese. Just hang on. Can you do that?"

"I-I think so," Silverbird slowly wrapped her arms around the speedster's shoulders, but her grip was loose, and Kid Flash sighed before he brought Reese's hands closer together so she was more secure.

His worry for Silverbird heightening, along with the fact that Wally knew the two of them were running out of time to get the heart to the girl, the speedster stumbled, only just managing to keep from falling as he skidded to a stop in front of a surgeon that was standing outside the entrance to the emergency room.

"Kid Flash!" the orderly called out as he ran up to them. "Silverbird!"

"We made it!" Wally cried as he slipped the pack holding the heart off of Reese's back and held it out to the surgeon. "We're here!"

Reese had started to shiver again, and she curled herself up beside Wally on the ground as the surgeon's face dropped.

"I-I'm sorry," he said slowly, and Wally's gut dropped. "You're too late,"

Wally couldn't believe it. There was _no_ way he and Reese traveled _three thousand miles_ across the country in one night, suffering from low hunger levels and _hypothermia_ , only for them to be too late.

Stealing a glance at his gauntlet, Kid Flash was even more shocked that the timer hadn't even run out. The donor's heart was still viable. _They still had time_.

"No!" The speedster exclaimed, holding his gauntlet out for the surgeon to see. "No! Look, we've got almost _twenty minutes_ to spare,"

"I know," the orderly told him slowly as he knelt in front of the two fallen heroes. "But, she passed away twelve minutes ago,"

Silverbird stirred from beside Kid Flash, something itching at the back of her head. Maybe it was the cold, maybe it was the way she hadn't had anything to eat for the last fourteen hours, but she--she _knew_ something wasn't right.

But, what it was exactly, her muddled and frozen brain couldn't figure it out.

"Twelve..." Wally trailed off as the thoughts in his head started to run together. " _Twelve minutes?"_

"Please," the surgeon told the two of them, as Reese continued to try and figure out what was bugging her about this whole situation. "Don't blame yourselves. I'm sure the two of you got here as fast as you could,"

Kid Flash helped Silverbird stand as the surgeon picked the pack up off the ground, and Reese braced her fingers against the side of her head. She _needed_ to figure out what was _wrong._

Meanwhile, Wally was having a crisis of his own. He and Reese had been _twelve minutes_ late. Their battle with Vandal Savage in South Dakota had taken _fifteen_. If they had been just three minutes _faster_ , then maybe they would've been able to save the girl.

"Maybe _another_ recipient--" the surgeon began, as he wrapped the pack up in his parka. "can be found,"

As the surgeon began to walk away, Wally turned to the brunette beside him, who was still on the verge of almost freezing to death.

"Come on," he told her quietly. "Let's get you inside,"

"Some polar suit," Silverbird muttered as she and Kid Flash entered the hospital's lobby. "I'm _freezing_ ,"

Already, the heat inside the hospital already made her feel a _lot_ better.

"Literally," Wally added morosely as he sat down heavily on an open couch. He couldn't believe they had _failed_. 

Glancing up at a nearby TV, KF noticed the news broadcast saying that the Justice League had brought down a fourth ice fortress.

Well, at least _someone_ had succeeded today.

Suddenly, Silverbird gasped, as all the dots started to connect inside her head. The itch she had gotten earlier, the feeling that something wasn't _quite_ right...she had been detecting a _lie._

The surgeon that she and Wally had met outside, the one who had said that the girl needing the heart transplant had died? He'd been _lying_.

Maybe she had been too cold earlier, maybe that was why Reese hadn't been able to tell a truth from a lie. But, right now, what she _did_ know, was that she and Wally _still had time_. They still had time to save the girl before she died.

No sooner had Silverbird come to that realization herself, but that an entire team of surgeons exited the elevator bank and ran over to the two downtrodden young heroes.

"Kid Flash! Silverbird!" the lead doctor exclaimed as he neared them. "We've been waiting. Where is the queen's heart?"

"Wait," Wally cut in. "The girl's dead so now the heart's going to a queen?"

"KF!" Reese told him, grabbing onto the speedster's arm and making him look at her. "I think the girl _is_ the queen. I didn't notice before because I was too cold, but the surgeon outside? He was _lying,_ "

"She's right," the _real_ doctor spoke up as Wally's eyes widened, and he stood up from his seat. "Queen Perdita of Vlatava, aged 10. She's not dead, but she _is_ running out of time,"

Looking just past the doctors, Silverbird's eyes landed on the elevators, where the " _surgeon_ " from outside had just entered the lift, the coat-wrapped pack held securely in his arms.

"Over there!" she cried, and quickly, Wally sped them both over, but the doors closed just as they reached them. Glancing up, Reese saw that the bottom arrow had started to glow, and she looked towards Wally again. "He's going down!" she shouted.

Taking the elevator was obviously a ' _no_ ', so Silverbird turned to the side, where a stairwell door was three feet away. She shouldered the door open and began to run down them, but was caught up again by Kid Flash as he quickly overtook her.

Reese had to admit though, being run down to a hospital's basement _did_ go a lot faster. The would-be doctor hadn't even left yet by the time Wally threw the basement door open, though he _was_ standing by his car door. 

So, while Kid Flash sped forward and swiped the pack holding Perdita's new heart away, Silverbird drew an arrow and shot it straight at the thief, startling him enough when the arrowhead lodged in his car door that he lurched backward.

But, if that wasn't bad enough, the guy was also armed, and he began to shoot at Reese, prompting the twelve-year-old to duck behind a car that was parked nearby.

She ducked down even lower as the back windshield shattered, showering glass over her as machine-gun fire sounded as well, and Reese assumed this guy had brought his own evil and murderous buddies.

Realizing that the thugs with the automatic weapons were shooting at Kid Flash instead of her, Silverbird rounded the back of the car, drawing another arrow and shooting it in the center of the small group, a smoke cloud erupting from the end.

As the thugs coughed and spluttered, Reese moved in like a shadow, distracting the bad guys long enough for Wally to near the stairwell door.

As she slammed her knee into the abdomen of one of the thugs and used a spin-kick to incapacitate another, the brunette was suddenly yanked away and found herself being sped across the garage again by Kid Flash as he shoved the pack holding the heart into her hands.

"We're _both_ getting out of here," the speedster muttered, rounding the garage in a wide circle to avoid more gunfire.

"Right," Reese retorted, smiling. "Because Robin will kill you if something happens to me,"

"Well, _that_ ," Wally began. "And because you're my teammate. _And_ because you're my friend,"

"Aw," Reese murmured. "Who knew Wally West could be so sentimental?"

"Shut up," the speedster shot back, though he was grinning, so Reese knew it was all in good fun.

But, as the two of them got near to the stairwell, Silverbird noticed a problem. Or rather, _two_ problems. Two very big problems that were currently holding machine guns pointed straight at them.

"They're blocking the stairs," Reese stated unnecessarily, and Wally suddenly swerved, veering off his set path to head towards the exit ramp.

"Then we'll just take the high road," he added, but before they could reach it, Reese was suddenly assaulted by a wave of raging dizziness and judging from the way Wally suddenly stumbled, he was affected too.

Both of them sprawled on the floor, Silverbird hunching over the heart, trying to protect it, as everything started to spin in front of her face.

Reese recognized this specific feeling of dizziness. She _hated_ this specific feeling of dizziness.

_Count Vertigo_.

Well, _now_ everything began to make sense. Werner Vertigo was a member of the Vlatavan royal family, and if his niece, Queen Perdita, died, then that would put the Count on his throne, his _ultimate_ mission, and what he had always strived to achieve, regardless of who stood in his way.

The brunette was still hunched over the heart as she and Kid Flash tried to get out of the way of Vertigo's dizzy effect, but they weren't moving very far very fast, and Silverbird heard the Count pause behind the two of them. 

"Crawling away?" Vertigo questioned mockingly. "Are the young heroes reduced to _that_?"

"Hey!" Wally suddenly piped up as he dragged himself across the floor. "We're not proud of it!"

"Apparently," the Count retorted, but the brunette and redhead weren't defeated yet. 

And if there was one thing that Reese had learned about Wally West in the past three years, it was that there was no way the speedster would learn to stop talking, but this time, that might actually be to their advantage.

"Here's what we don't get, Vertigo!" Kid Flash called over his shoulder as Silverbird spotted a stretch of shimmering ice a few yards away. _Perfect._ "You were defeated with the rest of the Injustice League! How come you're not in Belle Reve Prison with your _putrid pals_?"

But, and this way why Reese hated sociopaths, the Count just stayed eerily calm, as he continued to assault the two young heroes with his dizzying power.

"As a member of the Vlatavan Royal Family," Vertigo explained simply. "I have immunity diplomatic, as long as no crimes against Vlatava can be proven against me,"

Diplomatic immunity was a bitch. 

Which was another reason Reese hated dealing with international criminals who thought they were protected by whatever connections they had or strings they could pull.

"But," Silverbird suddenly cut in. "When your niece needed a heart transplant, you, as _Count Heartless_ couldn't pass up the opportunity. That means the ice fortresses were part of the plan to kill Perdita too, weren't they?"

"And _Savage_ ," Kid Flash gasped in realization. "He only stalled us as a favor to _you_!"

"It is... _nice_ to have friends," Vertigo retorted calmly, before lifting his sword into the air. "Now, shall we see if I can kill _three_ hearts with one blow?"

"I think _no_ ," Silverbird shot back, before suddenly sliding the pack holding the heart across the ice patch, away from Vertigo and underneath a car.

In the Count's moment of distraction, Wally spun around and kicked out, hitting Vertigo in the abdomen and knocking the villain onto his back.

Luckily, that also that the dizzying effect stopped, and both Silverbird and Kid Flash stumbled to their feet, trying to regain their bearings.

"Finally," Reese murmured before she ran forward as the henchmen from earlier brought out their guns again.

She did a flip, striking down with her feet and breaking a thug's nose, as Wally pinballed off of several others.

Just then, Silverbird heard another explanation from Vertigo, before another wave of dizziness overtook her, and Reese stumbled.

But, before she could fall, the brunette remembered the tactic she had used against the Count in Louisiana before the Team met the rest of the Injustice League. Reese spun around, and screamed at Vertigo, the Canary Cry meeting the wave of dizziness with a blast that almost seemed to send a shockwave throughout the entire garage.

It also gave Kid Flash an opportune time to run forward and ram into the Count like a charging bull, throwing Vertigo backward again.

Then, Wally leaped on top of him, trying to pry Vertigo's headband off of his head, which was what helped amplify the Count's power.

"While I'm sure Silverbird and I would both _love_ to continue this conversation, Count," the speedster began as he finally managed to get the headband off. "But, you're _not_ our priority,"

Sliding down on the patch of ice, Reese scooped up the heart, just before Wally grabbed _her_ , and began to run up the exit ramp again, which had been the whole point in the first place before they had gone up against Vertigo.

"Please," Wally muttered as they exited the underground garage. " _Please_ let there be more time,"

Rounding the corner onto the street in front of the hospital, Kid Flash burst through the sliding doors of the emergency room, the glass shattering, before he and Silverbird tumbled to the floor, Reese holding up the heart as the team of surgeons from earlier ran up to them.

"Take it!" she cried out as Wally hunched over next to her. "Go!"

"Right," the head doctor murmured, seemingly a bit shocked that the two had managed it before he spun around. "Transplant team to OR 2!" 

With that, the surgeons ran to get Perdita prepped for surgery before they all ran out of time, and Reese plopped down on the floor and braced her elbows against her knees, taking a deep breath.

They had made it. 

"We did it, KF," Silverbird murmured, thoroughly relieved before she glanced over at where the speedster had been sitting, to gasp in shock. "Kid Flash!"

Instead of sitting next to her, Wally lay sprawled across the ground, silent and unmoving.

**S E A T T L E  
November 12, 06:39 PST**

When Wally opened his eyes, it was to see Count Vertigo standing at the end of his hospital bed, looking increasingly pleased with himself.

" _Count Vertigo_..." the redhead muttered, but Vertigo just tilted his head back, sending the young speedster a sneer.

"That's _King_ Vertigo to you, _peasant_ ," he clarified, and Wally feigned ignorance.

"King?" he echoed slowly, and Vertigo waved a hand through the air.

"Perdita is _dead_ ," the older man told him. "And the beauty of it is? I never laid a _hand_ on her,"

"And now no one can lay a hand on _you_ ," Kid Flash shot back, _really_ hoping his plan would work, because if it didn't, they would all be in a _lot_ of trouble.

"As King of Vlatava," Vertigo added. "I'm untouchable,"

"Let's test that theory!" Wally went to sit up, but suddenly winced, and Vertigo held a hand up again.

"Now, now, little hero," the royal admonished him. "You'll pull your stitches. Besides," Vertigo continued after a moment. "Who exactly are you mad at? She died on the table. All that planning, all that _effort,_ neither of us need have bothered,"

"Right," Wally responded, before jabbing his finger at the Count. "Now it must kill you to know you owe favors to Vandal Savage and, I'm guessing five ice villains? For _nothing_!"

"Not at all," Vertigo retorted, tapping his sword's sheath rhythmically against the palm of his hand. "They played their roles in my attempt to rid Vlatava of Perdita. We couldn't know it was unnecessary,"

"So you all still deserve credit for _attempted_ murder," Wally retorted, but Vertigo only smiled.

"It's called," he corrected the speedster. " _Regicide_ ,"

"It's _called_ ," Kid Flash echoed, as he grabbed a handful of the curtain hanging next to him and yanked it to the side. "You're busted, jerk-face!"

The curtain was opened fully so it hung flush against the wall, revealing Perdita, alive and well, sitting in another hospital bed, along with Silverbird, who was pointing an arrow at Vertigo's face, and two of the Queen's bodyguards.

"I believe you _know_ Queen Perdita," Wally told Vertigo, thoroughly enjoying the shocked look on the Count's face as Perdita held up a small recording device.

" _It's called,_ " Vertigo's own voice exited the device as Perdita used the playback feature. " _Regicide ,_"

If anyone needed proof that Count Vertigo was a murderous sociopath who was willing to kill his own niece in order to seize the throne he'd always wanted, there it was.

"Count Werner Vertigo," the Queen began firmly. "As Queen of Vlatava, I hereby accuse you of high treason against the crown, and revoke your diplomatic immunity,"

"No!" Vertigo shouted, before unsheathing his sword and began to lunge towards the young queen, but luckily, Reese had seen the count's body tense in the milliseconds before he had begun to move.

Silverbird turned her bow horizontal and slammed it into Vertigo's abdomen, knocking the wind from the Count before giving him an uppercut that threw him backward, making him land on his back on the floor, as Perdita's two bodyguards ran forward and manhandled the disgraced noble to his feet.

"I think Belle Reve has a cell already with _your_ name on it, Vertigo," Reese told the man as she drew an arrow and pointed it towards the Count as he balked towards her. "Move," she told him. "I _dare_ you,"

"Well-played children," Vertigo muttered as his arms were restrained by the two bodyguards. "Admittedly, well-played. This round goes to you,"

With that, the two bodyguards began to shove Vertigo out the door, but not before the Count sent Silverbird and Kid Flash one last seething glance over his shoulder.

"By all means," Vertigo called out. "Allow the victory to go to your heads,"

Reese couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes as the door finally shut behind Count Vertigo, and the brunette bent down, picking up the Count's fallen sword and sheathing it again.

As she and Wally turned back to Queen Perdita, the younger girl gave them both a small smile.

"Thank you," she said. "Your plan worked _perfectly_ ,"

Reese had to admit, Wally's plan _had_ been pretty ingenious, and she was a bit miffed that she hadn't come up with it herself.

"Well," the speedster began. "When I woke up and Silverbird and I found out you were in recovery, we knew Vertigo would make another attempt on your life. Unless A) he thought you were dead, and 2) he lost that darn _immunity--_ "

"And was sent away for good," Silverbird added, before holding out Vertigo's sword to Perdita. "Here," she told the blonde. "I think this belongs to you,"

But, Perdita only shook her head. "That sword," the queen began. "is an heirloom belonging to my country, and _not_ to the Count. I would be pleased if you and Kid Flash were to have it. As a reward? Or as a souvenir?"

As Reese brought the sword back to herself, she and Wally exchanged a glance.

The sword _would_ be a cool souvenir, it was something that symbolized their defeat of Count Vertigo, but Silverbird couldn't help but feel as if it wasn't _quite_ right...

➳➳➳

In the end, though, the two of them didn't end up keeping Vertigo's sword as their souvenir. Reese had been right, the sword _hadn't_ been the right souvenir for the mission.

Instead, the pack that had been used to carry Perdita's new heart, the one that Silverbird had worn on her back all the way across the country seemed like a much better choice.

Wally stood slightly behind Reese as the brunette set the medical pack on the shelf inside Mount Justice a day later, both of them dressed in civvies, having returned from Seattle a while ago.

"I'm in love with him,"

Reese's voice was so quiet Wally almost didn't hear it, but he did, and he snapped his head up to look at the younger girl, only to see that Reese was avoiding eye contact, and instead had stayed facing the shelves of souvenirs the Team had acquired over the last four months.

"Who?" the speedster asked slowly because he _knew_ how private Reese was, and normally tended to keep her own thoughts to herself, and didn't open up to people very often.

"Dick," Reese answered, and Wally could barely stop himself from grinning. This was _great_. 

"Oh," he said, trying to sound surprised because honestly, he had _totally_ seen this coming. "Did you tell him?" 

He didn't want to spook Reese enough that she stopped talking because this had _obviously_ been bugging her for the last couple of days, and it was probably a good thing she was finally opening up about it.

"No," Reese told him before she sighed. "Wally, I-I think he likes someone else,"

"What?" the speedster exclaimed, shaking his head. "That's crazy. How are you so sure?"

But, Reese only shrugged. "I mean," she began slowly as she finally turned to look at him. "I'm not. Not really, but we were talking at your birthday party, and he said he was in love with this girl, and--"

"Reese," Wally cut in, gently grabbing onto the brunette's shoulders and making her look at him. "I _really_ think you should talk to Robin about this. I mean, you never know, maybe he feels the same way,"

"I doubt it," Reese muttered, glancing to the side before she met Wally's eyes again. "It doesn't matter though, I've stayed friends with him for this long without letting my feelings get in the way. I can do it some more,"

Wally swore these two were _literal idiots_. And he thought _he_ was the one who couldn't pick up on social cues. I mean, seriously, how was he the _last_ person to know that Miss Martian and Superboy were a couple? And to find out from _Artemis_ of all people? _Seriously?_

But, before the teenage speedster could say anything in response to Reese's claim, guess who walked into the room but Dick Grayson himself.

Before Reese could do anything, the teenage Boy Wonder wrapped his arms around the brunette and spun her around. Not as fast as when Wally did it, but enough that it surprised Reese.

"I just heard!" Dick exclaimed once he had set Reese down again, though the acrobat still looped his hands around Reese's back. "You're _amazing_!"

"Well," Reese said, glancing down at her shoes as she blushed. "Wally and I _did_ save an entire country,"

"I _know_!" Dick exclaimed in response, sharing a fist-bump with the speedster as he seemed to have forgotten the fact that he and Reese weren't talking to each other a mere forty-eight hours before. "Are you okay, though? Something--something _happened_ while you guys were in Seattle, and I don't...I _can't_ lose you, pretty bird,"

"I'm okay," Reese said quietly as she leaned back to look Dick in the eye, noticing that, over Robin's shoulder, Wally ducked out of the trophy room, though not before sending Reese a wink as he exited. "It's just been a _really_ long couple of days,"

"You're okay, though?" Dick repeated his question, before tilting his head back. "I-I'm sorry about what happened after Wally's party. I don't know why you were so upset, but, Reese, if I _did_ something--"

"It wasn't you, Dick," Reese told him softly as she gently clasped his hand in hers. "I promise. You did _nothing_ wrong,"

"You promise?" the Boy Wonder asked, still looking a bit skeptical, and Reese nodded, giving Dick what she hoped was a convincing smile.

"I promise,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to push forward the chapter where Dick and Reese finally get together, and they'll admit their feelings to each other in Agendas instead of Insecurity because I'm getting impatient.
> 
> Let's all stan Wallace Rudolph West. He's an icon.


	27. 25. Image

**M O U N T J U S T I C E**   
**November 22, 09:50 EST**

To say that Reese was thoroughly creeped out would be a gross understatement.

Just to be clear, Reese knew that she had seen a _lot_ of weird things. But, seeing _Dinah Lance_ , her adoptive father's _girlfriend_ , kissing Superboy through the cave's security feed by far was up there as one of the weirdest.

Of course, Reese _now_ knew it was Miss Martian, shape-shifted from her usual form to look like Black Canary, in some kind of weird Martian game that J'onn hadn't really explained, but _still_...it was _weird_.

Oliver had found it undeniably hilarious once he had realized that his romantic relationship wasn't at risk, though why he found _that_ funny, Reese had no idea. Her dad was an odd person.

So now, as Dinah went to talk to M'gann about how shape-shifting into other people and still kissing your boyfriend _as that person_ probably wasn't the best idea, Reese went to the cave's common room, where she found Dick and Wally sitting at the kitchen island, while Conner was sitting on the couch, the TV turned to static, as always.

All three were dressed in civvies, or as close to civvies as Superboy could get since he never seemed to change his clothes, while Robin wore his ever-present dark shades.

Dick was the first one to notice Reese when he walked in, and she must have had some sort of weird expression on her face as she still tried to process the whole ' _Martian shape-shifting game_ ' thing because his eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he walked up to her.

"You okay, pretty bird?" he asked softly, and Reese quickly shook her head, ridding herself of the oddball thoughts she'd been having for the last eight minutes, and met Robin's eyes. Well, his sunglasses.

"I'm fine," she answered after a moment, this time actually meaning it. Over Dick's shoulder, Wally sent the brunette a look, and Reese narrowed her eyes at him.

For the last almost two weeks, after Reese had opened up about her feelings for Dick to Wally after they had saved Queen Perdita, the speedster had been pestering the younger girl to tell the Boy Wonder how she really felt, but there was _no way_ Reese was going to do that.

Regardless of whether or not Dick liked someone else, he was still Reese's friend, and she was okay with him being her ' _just a friend'_ and her partner while they were superheroes, but anything more than that...she just didn't want to risk it.

Realizing that, once more, Reese wasn't going to tell Robin how she felt, Wally slammed his head against the kitchen counter, hitting his forehead against the granite surface with a loud ' _thud'_ , making both Conner _and_ Dick turn around to look at him, identical looks of bemusement on their faces.

"What's your deal?" Robin asked as he and Reese walked back over to Wally, the brunette fiddling with the string's of her hoodie as she sat down beside Dick, across from Wally as the redhead brought his head up again, an impressive red mark already marring his forehead.

"Nothing," the speedster said simply, and Reese was grateful for the fact that it seemed as if Wally hadn't told Dick about her feelings either.

It wasn't often that Kid Flash was able to keep a secret, but every once in a while, he managed, and Reese was thankful for that.

"Why are you here so early?" Dick asked, turning to Reese as he tilted his head. "It's, like, six a.m. in Star City, wouldn't you still be asleep?"

"Yeah," Reese agreed, giving a small nod. "On a _normal_ day. But, today is _anything_ but normal,"

"What happened?" Wally asked, and Reese spared a glance at Conner, who looked as if he were trying hard not to listen. 

Even if it was likely that Superboy had known he was with Miss Martian the whole time instead of with Black Canary, it didn't change the fact of how _weird_ it had been to see one of her mentors and parental figures kissing one of her teammates.

It was just... _odd_.

Before Reese could say anything more though, the PA system buzzed, and Batman's voice entered through the loudspeakers.

" _Robin, Silverbird, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian: report for mission briefing_ ,"

Message received and out of the way, the loudspeaker turned off again, causing Dick, Reese, and Wally to all glance at each other.

"Well," Kid Flash spoke first, standing up from his seat, finishing the rest of the sandwich he'd been eating, and rubbing his hands together. "Let's go save the world,"

"You don't know if we're going to save the world, KF," Reese told him as the three of them, plus Superboy walked out of the common room, though Conner veered off and headed towards the main cave, while the other three began their short trek to the locker rooms to change into their super suits.

"We could!" Wally exclaimed in response as Dick chuckled from beside Reese. "Hey, two weeks ago we saved an entire country, so I'd call our track record pretty good!"

Reese rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop a smile from appearing on her face at the sixteen-year-old speedster's antics.

Six minutes later, Silverbird stood with Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Robin, and Superboy in the main cave, where Batman stood in front of a holo-screen.

Artemis wasn't with them, and neither was Aqualad or Zatanna, though judging from the way Bruce started talking before Reese could ask about it, the Dark Knight wanted to get started.

"Rumaan Harjavti is the democratically elected president of Qurac," Batman began, and Silverbird glanced over his shoulder at the holo-screen, which showed a photo of a middle-aged, Middle Eastern man. "Harjavti has been praised as a fair, wise leader. A humanitarian,"

Another holo-screen popped up, this one showing a past newscast of Harjavti shaking hands with none other than Bruce Wayne himself (sans the Bat costume, of course).

" _Sure_ ," Wally muttered sarcastically as he leaned down towards Robin and Silverbird. " _Any_ friend of Bruce Wayne's..."

"But, five days ago," As he continued, Batman either didn't hear Kid Flash, or he chose to ignore him, and knowing the Dark Knight, Reese had a feeling it was the latter. "Harjavti allied himself with the dictator of the neighboring nation of Bialya, Queen Bee,"

"Hmph," Conner muttered, as Reese glanced over at him. "Not a fan,"

"Few are," Batman agreed. "But, Harjavti suddenly backs Queen Bee's baseless claim that Qurac and Bialya were one nation in ancient times and has announced the countries will _reunify_ in two days at a ceremony in Qurac,"

"Saving the world," Wally said, whispering towards Dick and Reese again. " _Totally_ called it,"

Batman called forth another holo-screen, this one showing a recent newscast, likely from after Harjavti decided to ally himself with Queen Bee.

" _After the ceremony, I will step down as President,_ " As Harjavti made his statement, Reese couldn't help but notice that his gaze into the camera was fairly blank, as if he weren't entirely coherent, though that also could've just been his personality." _So that our rightful monarch, Queen Bee, may rule_ ,"

The broadcast then switched to a press conference in Al-Qawiyah, the capital of Bialya, where Queen Bee was making her own statement.

" _I laud President Harjavti for unifying our people_ ," the villainess was saying. " _And I will_ _gladly_ _come to Qurac to be crowned sole leader of our nation,_ "

To say Reese was unimpressed would be an understatement. She understood Queen Bee's powers of enthrallment, but _seriously_? People were _actually_ listening to this and _believing_ it?

"The Quracis are okay with this?" the brunette asked, waving a hand towards the holo-screen, slightly surprised, but Batman only shook his head.

"Hardly," he retorted simply, just as more holo-screens appeared in the air above the training circle, showing photos of varying protests from locations all over Dhabar, Qurac's capital. "They're well aware of the brutality of Queen Bee's regime, but Harjavti has censored the press, silenced all legitimate protest, and invited the Bialyan military into his country to enforce martial law,"

"Queen Bee _has_ to be controlling Harjavti," Robin piped up, and Silverbird spared her partner a glance before turning back to Batman as Dick tilted his head to the side. "Doesn't she have the power to enthrall most men?"

"And some women," the Dark Knight added. "But not long-distance, and we have confirmation she hasn't left Bialya. Something else is at work here. _Find out what_. Robin, you're team leader,"

Reese was surprised. Not because Dick couldn't be a good leader, he was undoubtedly one of the most qualified for the job, but because _Kaldur_ was the leader of this Team, though she supposed Batman likely had his reasons for making his protege leader instead.

Robin looked rightly shocked himself, and his head snapped up to stare at his mentor as Wally grinned.

"Promotion!" the speedster exclaimed as he held up a hand for a high-five. " _Sweet_!"

Dick still looked skeptical, though, and walked forward a few steps so he was closer to Batman as he shook his head.

"Me?" the Boy Wonder echoed. "W-What about Aqualad?"

"Busy helping Aquaman," Batman stated simply. "You're the next logical choice,"

It made sense, Silverbird realized, and it _was_ logical to put Robin in charge when Aqualad was unavailable, but Reese knew that Dick didn't _want_ to be leader, not right now. 

Not after what had happened during the training simulation.

A few weeks ago, after everyone had had their grief assessments, and Dick and Reese had discovered that the golden arrowheads given to Reese by Kent Nelson allowed the two of them to be able to look through the other's eyes, the Boy Wonder had opened up to his partner, telling her what it was exactly that he and Black Canary had talked about when it had been Robin's turn to talk to Dinah.

He had opened up about not wanting to be Batman, not wanting to _become_ Batman in such a way that it led him astray from who he cared about, the way Bruce's mission did.

It had worn down on Dick, becoming the leader of the Team after Kaldur had sacrificed himself at the Hall of Justice, and he had told Reese that he _never_ wanted to go through something like that again. At least, not for a long, _long_ time.

Realizing that Robin still hadn't said something in response to Batman's proclamation, Silverbird gently nudged her partner in the ribs, making Dick glance up again.

"Great," the Boy Wonder muttered, trying to sound cheerful, though Reese could tell his heart wasn't really in it, as Wally, who still had his hand up for a high-five, frowned.

"Dude," the redhead told his friend. "You totally left me hanging,"

**Q U R A C**   
**November 22, 23:56 UTC+2**

At about midnight in Eastern European Time, the Bioship--camouflaged, of course--finally entered the airspace close to Qurac. Or, more accurately, according to Dick, right above its border.

"We're right above the Quraci-Bialyan border," Robin piped up as M'gann piloted the Bioship through the air, and Kid Flash peered out the window.

"A border the Bialyans are in the process of _ignoring_ ," Wally piped up, and Silverbird glanced towards where the speedster was looking in time to see a tank plow down a barbed-wire fence that had been erected in its path.

The barbed wire had to have been the border of some sort of paddock, because, through the dark, Reese was able to see a herd of wildebeest grazing the field in front of the tanks, just before all of the animals bolted.

"No opposition," Conner added, glancing over his shoulder at the others. "Guess Harjavti really is in bed with Bialya,"

"You wouldn't expect opposition here," Dick explained suddenly, glancing at his holo-glove as Reese twisted around in her seat to see what Robin was looking at. "It's an animal sanctuary,"

"The _Logan_ Animal Sanctuary?" M'gann clarified, and Silverbird sent her a look.

"You've heard of it?" the brunette asked, before turning to look out the window again. "Those tanks have caused a stampede!"

"Yeah," Wally added, his infrared goggles helping him see through the darkness. "With civilians in harm's way,"

"I see them," Conner continued. "Woman and a small boy,"

"We have to help them," Miss Martian exclaimed, but Robin just gritted his teeth as he glanced out the window.

"We're _way_ off-mission here," Dick began, and Reese stared at him, a bit shocked that he was almost refusing to help people in trouble.

"Robin," she began, making him look over at her. "We can't just _leave_ them,"

"Fine," the Boy Wonder relented after a few more seconds, turning to the others as Reese sent him a grin. "Deploy. But stealth-mode. If the Bialyans know we hit them this becomes an international incident,"

Keeping the Bioship in camouflage-mode, M'gann leveled an energy blast at one of the tanks, making it explode and throwing the Bialyan soldiers that were nearby onto the ground as the damaged tank rammed into another one as its engineer lost control.

Miss Martian flew the Bioship through the smoke cloud resulting from the crashed tanks, before opening a hatch on the bottom of the ship, allowing Robin, Silverbird, and Kid Flash to jump to the ground.

Dick threw one of his birdarangs, making another cloud of smoke erupt between a group of soldiers, and Reese took down three of them by herself before the soldiers knew what happened, as Wally rammed himself into another two, taking their guns and knocking the soldiers unconscious.

Superboy, meanwhile, dealt with the stampede of wildebeest. Landing in front of the rampaging herd, Conner grabbed the horns of one of the animals and forced it to the ground, making the other wildebeest diverge around him, the fallen animal, and the two civilians, so they wouldn't all get trampled.

The woman and her child, at least, that's who Reese assumed the younger boy was, were also sitting with another animal. An oryx, Silverbird realized, as she recognized the species of antelope.

But, in the commotion of the wildebeest stampede, the oryx spooked and ran away from the civilians as a way to escape. The oryx bolted straight into the stampede, but luckily, before it was able to get trampled, M'gann levitated it to safety.

Finally, the stampede ended, the wildebeest running past the woman and her child across the rest of the paddock and putting them out of harm's way.

Now that they were relatively out of danger, Robin and Silverbird landed just behind the woman and her boy, as Kid Flash sped up next to them, tossing the soldiers' guns that he had confiscated to the side.

"Are you both okay?" Dick asked, making both civilians turn to them, just as the boy got a wide grin on his face before he turned to his mother.

"Mom," the boy began, voice getting more excited with every second. "Mom! Mom! We were just saved by Robin, Silverbird, and _Kid Flash_!"

"Well," Wally cut in, waving a hand to the side as Conner walked up. "Superboy and Miss Martian helped too,"

The boy ran forward and embraced the oryx as M'gann levitated it to the ground again. Apparently, the oryx's _name_ was Oryx too.

"We diverted the Bialyans around the sanctuary," Reese said, glancing up at the boy's mother as the woman walked up to the five of them. "You should be safe now,"

"Uh, _yeah_ ," Kid Flash cut in, glancing over his shoulder at where M'gann was hovering, still camouflaged. "Coast is clear, Miss M. You can de-camo now,"

Reese didn't know why her Martian friend suddenly seemed so nervous, but she revealed herself nonetheless and removed her hood, giving a shy wave to the two civilians the Team had just saved.

"You may have made things worse," the woman told them sternly. "Bialyan border crossings are a way of life here. Usually, they wreck a few fences and move on. Engaging them might've made us a target,"

" _Mom..."_ the boy admonished his mother softly. " _Uncool_ ,"

His mother sighed as the oryx made a noise, beginning to walk away, though Reese could tell its gait was a bit wobbly.

"Sorry," the older woman said after a moment. "I should thank you," she set a hand on her son's shoulder as everyone turned to look at him. "This is my son, Garfield. I'm--"

"Marie Logan!" M'gann exclaimed, running forward a few steps before stopping herself suddenly. "I-I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in person! I've..uh...admired your stance on animal rights for _years_ ,"

That was odd. Reese didn't know why, but M'gann was _lying_ about something. 

Not about admiring Marie's animal rights activism, Reese didn't doubt that the martian held the same values, but really, M'gann had only been on Earth for the last six months. How could she have known about Marie before that?

Before the brunette could think about it more, a wildebeest limped up to the group, holding one front hoof in the air, giving a sad sort of noise.

"The oryx is sick," Marie said as she ran up to the wildebeest, glancing over her shoulder at the young heroes. "And I think you injured this wildebeest,"

"Uh...sorry?" Conner said, and Reese couldn't help but roll her eyes. 

She knew not everyone was entirely okay with people in colorful costumes running around and beating up bad guys, but still, couldn't Marie sound at least a _little_ bit grateful that she and her son weren't dead?

"I suppose it was unavoidable," Marie admitted to herself as the wildebeest limped away, allowing the older woman to walk back over to them. "But, both need to go to our clinic,"

"Silverbird and the boys can do that!" M'gann exclaimed as she clasped her hands together, Reese giving the other girl an odd look as the Martian suddenly lumped her in with Conner, Dick, and Wally. "You and I can, uh, fix your fences,"

"That's not exactly our--" Dick was cut off from explaining when M'gann turned around and clasped her hands in front of her again, giving the Boy Wonder a pleading look as Garfield did the same thing to his mother.

It only took a few seconds, but both Robin and Marie eventually relented, and M'gann and Garfield both leaped into the air, exuberant grins on their faces.

Miss Martian was significantly higher though in the air, because, unlike her, Garfield couldn't fly.

➳➳➳

By the time Silverbird, Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, and Garfield got the sick and injured animals into the Logan Sanctuary's veterinary clinic, the sun had risen, and they had begun to walk from the barn that housed the clinic to the small farmhouse where Marie and her son lived.

Suddenly, from above Reese's head, there was a loud screech, before a small monkey dropped down from the upper branches, jumping off of Conner's shoulder before running onto Wally's, stealing Kid Flash's granola bar before leaping into Reese's arms over where the brunette was walking up just behind Garfield.

"Get it off!" Wally exclaimed when he noticed that his granola bar was gone, and Reese laughed as she realized that the monkey had curled his tail and was carrying the granola bar with his tail.

"It's okay," Garfield said as he turned around. "Meet Monkey,"

"Good name," Conner retorted, crossing his arms. "But, I hate monkeys,"

Monkey suddenly threw the granola bar he had stolen from Wally, and the snack bounced off of Superboy's forehead, prompting the genomorph to let out a growl.

"Looks like Monkey hates Superboys," Robin piped up, grinning as Kid Flash turned to Conner again.

"Dude," the speedster muttered. "Be glad he only threw a protein bar,"

"I don't know," Reese murmured as she gently scratched behind the monkey's ears. "I think he's kind of cute,"

"Wow..." Garfield said, and Silverbird glanced up to find the younger boy staring at her, eyes wide with awe. "I-I can't believe I'm _actually_ meeting Silverbird in person. You're, like, one of my all-time favorite heroes ever!"

"Uh, thank you?" Reese said, accidentally phrasing it as a question because she wasn't entirely sure how to respond to Garfield's praise, which became even more apparent with what the young boy said next.

"You're even prettier in person too,"

For a couple of seconds, all Silverbird was able to do was blink, not sure how to respond as Wally burst out laughing from behind her, and she even heard Conner let out a barely-disguised snort. But, the brunette was oblivious to the way Kid Flash leaned down next to Robin, who was scowling, arms crossed.

"You got competition from an eight-year-old, dude," the redhead hissed. "You're losing your touch,"

As they all began to make their way inside the farmhouse, Dick accidentally-on-purpose smashed his heel down on Wally's toes, making the speedster hop around on one foot, which in turn made Reese glance over her shoulder at the two of them, to see what the big deal was.

"What are you doing?" she asked, and Wally suddenly spun around on his uninjured foot, managing to face-plant on Marie and Garfield's front porch before he glanced up again.

"Birds are jerks," the speedster muttered, before pressing his face into the wooden planks of the porch, groaning. 

Reese stared at him, one eyebrow raised and having no clue what her friend was talking about, when Robin leaned over to her, hiding his mouth behind his hand.

"Ignore him," the Boy Wonder muttered. "He's just mad that Monkey stole his protein bar,"

"That's not it!" Wally retorted, pointing his index finger in the air as the speedster clambered to his feet, but he didn't give an explanation before the three of them walked inside the farmhouse behind Conner and Garfield.

"So," Marie's son began once they had all entered the living room, Monkey having leaped onto his shoulder after Reese had turned around to see why Wally had face-planted on the porch. "Pretty weird about Miss Martian and my mom, huh?"

"What do you mean?" Superboy asked, crossing his arms as they all paused in the living room, with Robin and Kid Flash sitting down in the two armchairs, while Silverbird perched herself on the side of Dick's chair.

"I mean," Garfield continued. "She looks _exactly_ like Marie. You know, except greener,"

"She does?" Wally asked as Reese tilted her head to the side. Now that she thought about it, there _was_ a certain amount of resemblance between M'gann and Garfield's mother.

"Well, duh," Garfield retorted as Monkey began to chew on the shoulder of the young boy's shirt. "Especially when Mom was a TV star on _Hello, Megan!_ ,"

"Wait!" Wally exclaimed, holding up a hand. " _Hello, Megan!_ is a TV show?"

"I just thought it was something she said all the time," Dick added, glancing up at Reese, who only shrugged. She'd never heard of the show.

"Yeah," Garfield piped up, as they all turned to look at him. " _On_ the TV show. Way before we were born; only one season. You can't even find it _online,_ " Garfield then glanced over at his TV's entertainment center, where Reese was able to see various dusty old VHS tapes stuffed into the shelves. "I know Mom has a tape somewhere..."

Then, Garfield dove into the shelf, rummaging around the different tapes that were precariously situated inside. He also started to throw out various remotes, and when Reese almost got hit in the head with one, she had counted almost six.

Finally, Garfield stuck his head out from the shelves triumphantly, and in his hands, he was holding a single tape.

" _Hello, Megan!_ ," the young boy exclaimed, waving the tape through the air. "The pilot episode,"

Garfield blew off the dust that had gathered on top of the tape over the years, and when the particles hit her nose, Reese gave a loud sneeze.

Marie's son slid the tape into the VHS player, and Wally smirked. "Whoa," the speedster began. "You still have VHS? Where's your eight-track?"

But, before Garfield could press ' _play_ ', Silverbird jumped to her feet as she suddenly heard an odd buzzing sound, one that took her only a few seconds to recognize as an aircraft engine.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, holding out a hand, and Garfield glanced over his shoulder. "Do hear that?"

"I hear it too," Superboy added, head tilted. "Aircraft. Coming this way,"

They all ran out of the farmhouse, though as she passed through the doorway, Reese noticed that Dick had stayed behind, saying something to Garfield before Robin joined Silverbird at the door.

The two of them, plus Wally, paused on the porch as Conner headed further out into the yard, and M'gann and Marie walked up to them, presumably after finishing mending the fences that the Bialyans had destroyed the night before.

"What is it?" M'gann asked, but before anyone could answer, three airplanes appeared in the air at the far end of the sanctuary's property, heading towards them _fast_.

Gunfire sounded, and M'gann shielded Marie, as Conner shielded M'gann. When the planes averted, Marie grabbed onto Superboy's shoulders.

"Where's my son?" she asked frantically, but Robin was the one who answered.

"I ordered him to stay inside," Dick answered, but Marie only sent him a glare that was equal parts desperate and angry.

"He's _eight_!" she retorted. "He doesn't do orders!"

Then, from across the yard, the door to the barn where the clinic was housed opened, and Gar appeared, herding the sick oryx and injured wildebeest out with his arm before giving them all a wave, oblivious to everyone's sudden fear.

" _Mom!"_ he shouted across the yard. "It's okay, I got the animals out!"

But, just then, the aircraft suddenly started firing again, and a gas tank that was on the side of the barn was hit, making it explode, and Reese gasped, covering her mouth with her hands as Garfield was thrown through the air.

" _Garfield_!" Marie shouted, and M'gann instantly flew over, managing to catch Gar before he hit the ground, and delivering the young boy back to his mother as Silverbird, Robin, and Kid Flash scrambled down the front steps to join them.

The planes came in for another attack, and as Miss Martian and Superboy went to intercept them, Marie turned her glare on Robin.

"I _told_ you there'd be consequences!" she snapped at him, and Dick glanced downward, frowning.

"Always," he murmured. "Let's get him inside,"

Marie managed to carry her son back inside the farmhouse, and within a couple of minutes, Gar was laying in his bed, head bandaged, and he was hooked up to an IV, as Marie checked him over with a stethoscope, with Dick and Reese hovering on the other side of the young boy's bed as Wally lingered in the doorway.

"He's in shock," the older woman said finally. "He needs a blood transfusion _now_ ," Marie glanced around at the three young heroes who were gathered there. "Are any of you O-negative?"

Reese knew that she and Dick had the same blood type, but neither of them were O-neg, and she was pretty sure Wally wasn't either.

"No," Robin answered solemnly, pulling up his holo-computer as Reese and Wally both muttered ' _sorry_ '.

"Neither am I," Marie added. "It's the hardest to match. I kept a supply in the clinic..." The clinic that had just now exploded, so obviously, that was a no-go.

"I can run him to the nearest hospital," Kid Flash piped up, but Dick just shook his head.

"The nearest hospital with a guaranteed blood supply is half an hour away at your top speed," the Boy Wonder explained. "Longer by Bioship,"

"He doesn't have that much time!" Marie exclaimed, before glancing up at Robin and Silverbird again. "What's Superboy's blood type?"

"He's Kryptonian," Reese told her softly. "And Miss M--"

"Might be able to help," they all turned to look at the doorway as M'gann and Conner suddenly appeared there, the two of them having defeated the attacking Bialyan soldiers. "My shapeshifting occurs at the cellular level," M'gann continued after a moment, walking forward so she stood beside Marie next to Garfield's bed. "I think I can morph my blood to match his,"

"Please," Marie said, grabbing onto M'gann's shoulder. "Try,"

"I'll need to concentrate," Miss M said solemnly. "No distractions," 

Marie gave a small nod, before jerking her finger in the direction of the door. "Out!" she cried. "All of you, out!"

Wally and Conner, considering they were closest to the door, were the first ones in the hallway, with Dick and Reese being herded out by Marie a few seconds later, just before Marie slammed the door in Reese's face.

Then, with the four of them having nothing better to do, Silverbird and the boys migrated into the living room again, where Robin flopped down into an armchair and put his head in his hands.

"And on top of all this," Dick began. "Harjavti steps down _tomorrow_ , subjecting all of Qurac to this danger," the Boy Wonder pushed some hair away from where it had fallen over his forehead as Reese gently grabbed his hand. "KF, can you find a news station,"

"Sure," Wally said instantly, holding three different remotes in his hands. "Which remote is it?"

The speedster managed to turn the TV on, but what turned on wasn't a news broadcast. As an 80s era jingle echoed out of the TV, Reese turned towards the screen, along with Dick and Conner, as a blue logo with the words _Hello, Megan!_ on it appeared.

Wally hadn't turned on a news broadcast. He'd turned on the VHS tape of Marie's old TV show that Gar had found earlier. The one where Marie and M'gann looked... _exactly alike_.

It was a bit weird, seeing M'gann's alter ego of Megan Morse in the aspect of Megan Wheeler, who it seemed the main character of _Hello, Megan!_ was. Even weirder was that it seemed that "Megan", just like M'gann, was a cheerleader.

As the jingle, which was probably the soundtrack for the TV show's introduction, a scene suddenly showing "Megan" popped up, with the protagonist bopping her palm off her forehead, just like M'gann always did.

" _Hello, Megan_!" she exclaimed, and Dick and Reese glanced at each other. Okay, this was _uber-weird._ Weirder than seeing Conner kissing Black Canary. 

Speaking of, when another scene of the introduction showed Megan hugging a taller boy with tan skin and black hair, Reese couldn't help but notice the look--slightly bordering on jealous--that Superboy suddenly got on his face.

When that same boy kissed Megan on the cheek towards the end of the introduction, Conner finally glanced at Reese, Dick, and Wally.

"Maybe it's a coincidence?" Superboy asked, but knowing M'gann and how excited she was when the five of them had first met Marie and her son, after defeating the first wave of Bialyan soldiers, Silverbird didn't really believe that, and she lightly fingered the end of her braid, one of her nervous tells.

Finally, the episode actually started, and it began with the stereotypical studio clap that was always in sit-coms as various characters appeared on-screen.

Megan came running down the stairs, turning towards the actress who likely played her mother.

" _Mom_!" the redhead exclaimed. She and M'gann really _were_ identical, it was a bit creepy. " _I'm going to the library to study_!"

Megan's "mom" quit her act of dusting off the couch (seriously, who dusted their couch?), and gave her "daughter" a conspiratorial look. 

" _But,_ " she began. " _Didn't you invite a certain someone to study here instead_?" Just then, the doorbell rang, and Megan hit her forehead again.

" _Hello, Megan_!" she exclaimed, and Reese was suddenly reminded of why she hated sit-coms so much. 

The laugh-tracks were A) a little bit creepy, and B) totally unnecessary. If someone wanted to laugh, they could go and watch a comedian. They didn't need to hear a fake studio audience do it instead.

Back on the TV, Megan ran over to the front door of her house and pulled the door open, revealing the same tall, black-haired guy from the introduction standing on the front stoop. 

And then, because _Hello, Megan!_ was indeed a sitcom, and this new character was undoubtedly the love interest, Reese rolled her eyes when a studio-made ' _ooohhh_ ' sounded through the speakers.

Megan threw herself, quite literally, into the newcomer's arms and gave him a hug.

" _Conner_!" she exclaimed suddenly, and Reese, along with Dick and Wally, couldn't stop themselves from looking over at Superboy, who looked a little bit miffed.

"Oh, yeah," KF muttered to Robin and Silverbird, as Conner-- _their_ Conner--glanced to the side. " _Pure_ coincidence,"

Reese drove her elbow into Wally's ribs, wanting the speedster to stop being so rude when suddenly, M'gann's voice came from behind them.

"It's done," the Martian said quietly, making all of them spin around to look at her. "All we can do now is wait,"

Wally accidentally tossed the remote he was holding into the air in his haste to turn off the _Hello, Megan!_ episode before M'gann realized what had happened, only for Miss M to glance at the TV. 

"Is that Harjavti?" she asked, and Reese turned around to see that KF had managed to turn on the news, where the Quraci president was doing another press conference.

" _My fellow Quracis_ ," the president was saying, his voice in the same monotonous tone as before. " _Queen Bee's rule is a gift to our people--_ "

"Hey, that guy in the back! I know him!" Conner exclaimed, and Robin pulled up his holo-glove again, zooming in on the spot Superboy had indicated.

"It's Psimon," M'gann explained. "The psychic we fought the last time we were in Bialya!"

"If he was working for Queen Bee then," Reese murmured, glancing up to meet the eyes of her teammates. "Then Psimon has to be controlling Rumaan Harjavti for her now!"

"Ugh," Wally groaned. "I still remember the headache from when he brain-blasted us,"

"We _have_ to get Harjavti away from him," Dick said firmly, and Silverbird gave a nod in agreement before Marie walked up behind the five of them.

"It worked," the woman said simply. "Garfield's stable,"

To say Reese was relieved would be an understatement, and the brunette let out a breath as Robin turned to Marie.

"Good," the Boy Wonder said simply. "Because we have our mission,"

**D H A B A R  
November 23, 22:11 UTC+2**

Vents. Why was it _always_ the vents?

It was a good thing that Silverbird wasn't claustrophobic because if she was, being pressed up between Robin and the wall of an air vent five feet wide would've probably given her a heart attack.

As it were, being so close to Dick was giving Reese heart palpitations _anyway_ , but that was for a whole other reason.

The Team was currently in the air vent that was above Rumaan Harjavti's office at the capital in Dhabar, waiting for an opening where they could get the president out and to safety, and for the last fifteen minutes, nothing had happened.

There _had_ been a brief scare about twenty minutes ago when Robin had gone to open the vent cover that would've allowed the five of them to enter the President's office, but one of Harjavti's advisors had entered the room just as Dick was getting ready to drop down, and both he and Reese had needed to scramble to hold the vent cover in place to keep it from falling on top of Harjavti's head in the five minutes it had taken for the mind-controlled president and his advisor to converse.

They wanted to _save_ Harjavti from Queen Bee and Psimon. Not accidentally _kill_ him. _That_ would be one hell of an international incident.

And it hadn't even been an _important_ conversation between the president and his employee. They'd been talking about Quraci cuisine, and the advisor had asked Harjavti what he wanted for breakfast the next day. 

As much as she loved being able to speak every language on Earth, Reese swore she almost slammed her head against the vent when she realized the conversation wasn't even one of national security importance.

They wanted to be sure that no one else would come in once the advisor had left, which explained why the five of them were still stuck in the vents and had been for the last sixteen minutes and thirty-one seconds. Thirty-two seconds. Thirty-three...thirty-four...thirty-five...

' _Harjavti's alone,'_ Robin's statement startled Silvebird so much she jumped.

If Reese were being honest, she had forgotten that M'gann had set up a psychic link when they first got to the palace in Dhabar. No one had said (or thought) anything for a while, so Reese hadn't even remembered the psychic link was even there.

' _You sure_?' Kid Flash asked from his spot across the vent cover. ' _We don't need another repeat of almost braining the President in the head,_ '

' _Yes, I'm sure!'_ Dick shot back, before he pushed the vent cover open, leaving one end of it screwed in so it opened like a hinged door.

Silently, he, Reese, Wally, and Conner dropped down to the floor of the President's office, while M'gann--in camo-mode--levitated herself down to the floor.

Silverbird and Robin walked around the side of Harjavti's desk, to see the President sitting with his back turned to the door, staring listlessly out the window.

As she and Dick paused on the side of his chair, Harjavti turned to look at them, his face expressionless, and Reese couldn't hold back her shudder. It was _creepy_.

"Where's my daughter?" Harjavti asked before bracing his fingers against his forehead. "Where's Psimon?"

"Forget him," Robin said firmly. "Let's get you out of here,"

Before anyone could move, the various doors that led into the office burst open, and various soldiers wearing the uniform of Bialya ran inside. But, Silverbird felt her throat run dry as she realized that wasn't all the soldiers were carrying.

When she and Superboy had met the Forever People, some of the Intergang thugs had used the Apokoliptan weapons that allowed them to turn the floor into a mud-like substance, and now, some of those soldiers were wearing the same weapons. Others carried the red disks that seemingly blocked someone's powers or abilities and trapped them in a painful forcefield of red lightning.

Finally, another man walked in, this one slight of build, and he didn't hold any Apokoliptan tech. he had to be the soldiers' commander.

"Well, well, well," the man muttered in accented English. "American heroes. Here to assassinate the President. Such a shame we arrived here too late to stop it,"

' _Silverbird,_ ' Conner's voice suddenly sounded inside Reese's head, and she glanced up at the genomorph as he spared her a split-second look over his shoulder. ' _You recognize these weapons?'_

_'Yeah,'_ The brunette answered, before giving swift glances to Robin and Kid Flash. ' _This is Apokoliptan tech. Apokoliptan weapons,'_

' _Which they'll use to kill Harjavti_ ,' Dick began. ' _We get blamed, and Queen Bee gets to rule Qurac! Form up around the President!'_

Suddenly, the air shimmered behind the commander in the office's doorway, and Reese had a feeling that was where M'gann was currently hovering.

' _I found Psimon!'_ the Martian exclaimed, before flying out the door.

' _Wait--_ ' Robin tried to call out to her, but M'gann was already gone.

' _I'll get her_ ,' Conner went to go after his girlfriend, but Dick just held up a hand.

' _No,_ ' the Boy Wonder said simply. ' _The mission is Harjavti. Pretty bird, try to convince them that Queen Bee isn't on their side_ ,'

' _Me?'_ Reese echoed, giving a shocked look to Robin. ' _Why?'_

_'You speak Bialyan_ ,' Dick responded calmly. ' _You're our best bet on convincing the soldiers that Queen Bee becoming the ruler of both Bialya and Qurac would a really bad thing_,'

' _Okay,_ ' Silverbird said slowly, taking a deep breath. ' _I'll do my best, but I can't guarantee they'll listen to me,'_

_'You'll do great, Rhysalin,_ '

"[All of you, stop!]" Bialyan was an odd language to speak, and it had never been one of Reese's favorites, mostly _because_ of the association with Queen Bee, but when the situation, like now, for example, called for it, she was able to use it.

As it were, Reese was pretty sure she had shocked the soldiers so much by _actually_ being able to speak their language that for a moment, they all paused, and in their distraction, Silverbird continued.

"[Queen Bee is manipulating you!]" she added, as Robin, Kid Flash, and Superboy tensed behind her, ready to intervene if necessary. "[She doesn't care about gaining Qurac because it and Bialya were one nation thousands of years ago, it wasn't! She is controlling President Harjavti with the help of a psychic named Psimon, and he is likely controlling all of you as well!]"

"[The girl lies!" the commander shouted to his soldiers, though Reese could see she had started to get through to a couple of them. "[She knows nothing of our Queen's reign! She has been manipulated by American lies that do not understand what we stand for!]"

"[No!]" Reese cried as the soldiers started to raise their weapons again. "[If you allow Queen Bee to take control of Qurac, innocent people will die! People with families! Children will be orphaned, and people will lose their homes, all because of your _Queen_! Rumaan Harjavti is a fair leader, the Quraci people love him, and he is a better leader than Queen Bee could ever hope to be! Would you really blame his death on the backs of American heroes just so Queen Bee can continue her conquest of your world? This man has a family! Do not take a father away from his daughter because he stands in the way of Queen Bee's quest for power! Don't--]"

Silverbird abruptly cut off as she saw the commander's body tense, as the man reached for the holster around his waist. He drew his gun and fired before anyone was able to move, but he didn't try and shoot Harjavti. 

Reese dove to the side as the commander pulled the trigger, and she felt the bullet dig into the skin on her right arm as she leaned against the side of Harjavti's desk. If she hadn't moved, it would've hit her dead-center in the chest (no pun intended).

"[You know _nothing,_ you insolent child]," the commander sneered, and through the sudden blaze of pain that erupted through Reese's entire arm, she saw the soldiers' superior lower his gun. "[Queen Bee reigns supreme],"

For all of three seconds, the room was dead-silent, before Robin moved, bolting forward in the span of fewer than two seconds before Dick slammed the commander into the wall with enough force to crack the stone pillar.

Their superior now in danger, the other soldiers, regardless of whether or not Silverbird had started to place doubt in their minds about Queen Bee, still raised their weapons to protect their commander, but Superboy and Kid Flash took care of them fairly quickly.

While the boys were dealing with the soldiers, Reese used her left hand to reach into her quiver, grabbing an arrow with a sharp tip and pulling off one of her gloves as she sat on the edge of Harjavti's desk.

Sticking the glove in her mouth, the brunette used the arrow's razor-sharp tip to press into the bullet wound on her arm, choking back a scream and biting down on the glove in her mouth as her vision blacked out for a moment, but Reese managed to dig the bullet out of her bicep with the arrow, the small flattened piece of metal clinking to the floor.

"I need a piece of fabric," Silverbird managed to blurt out through the pain lancing through her entire right side, and Robin, from where he was standing over a now beaten and bloody Bialyan commander, snapped his head up, running over to Reese and taking a roll of gauze out his utility belt.

Taking the now-bloody arrow from the brunette, Dick used the arrowhead to slice through the seam of Reese's jacket sleeve, ripping the rest of it off before he unrolled the gauze and wrapped it around Silverbird's wound, tight enough that it was almost uncomfortable, but Reese knew that it was also to keep pressure on the bullet wound. She had already gotten shot, she didn't want to bleed out.

She hadn't gotten shot a lot, only once or twice since she had become Silverbird three years ago, but still, that didn't make it hurt any less every time it happened.

"Can you walk?" Robin asked quietly, gently setting his hand on Reese's leg, and the brunette gave her partner a small smile.

"I got shot in the arm, Boy Wonder," she told him, gaining an unimpressed look from Dick because yes, _he knew that_. "Not the leg,"

"Doesn't change the fact that it shouldn't have happened at all," he retorted sharply under his breath, before looking up at Reese again. "Pretty bird, what's the point of having a magical arrowhead that tells me when something bad is going to happen to you if I can't even see that something bad coming?"

"Robin, you can't blame yourself," Silverbird said softly. " _I_ almost didn't see the commander going for his gun before it was too late,"

"Whoa," Wally suddenly cut in from across the room, holding up a hand as Dick and Reese turned to look at him. Though he was wearing a slightly confused look, Reese could still see the worry that was clouding the speedster's eyes. "What do you mean ' _magic arrowheads that tell you when something bad is going to happen_ '?"

"Where have you been for the last three months?" Conner added sarcastically, giving Wally a look. "Robin and Silverbird got those arrowheads from Kent Nelson, remember? Dr. Fate? A _magician_?"

Kid Flash just scoffed and crossed his arms, not admitting to the fact that despite the Team now had a _literal_ magician on their team, and their leader had taken classes in Atlantean sorcery, that maybe, just maybe, magic could be real.

Before Wally was able to say anything, the door opened again, and a woman, dressed in a navy blue suit ran in. She introduced herself as Noor Harjavti, Rumaan's daughter.

"Thank you for saving my father," the woman told them as Silverbird hopped off of Harjavti's desk and she and Robin joined Kid Flash and Superboy at the door. "We will take care of him now,"

All of them giving separate nods, the four heroes exited the office and went down the same hallway M'gann had several minutes before. 

As she ran, Reese's arm kept twingeing in pain, and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out, but judging from the look that Dick sent her, he wasn't convinced that she was okay.

' _M'gann_!' Conner called over the psychic link that somehow, was still in place as the four of them entered a large cavernous. ' _We're coming. We're--_ '

Suddenly, pain exploded from every corner of Reese's brain. Worse than when she had gotten shot, and about _ten thousand_ times worse than the headache she had gotten in Bwunda when the Team had been dealing with Solovar's telepathic gorilla troop.

She didn't know what happened after that, because the pain was so bad, that Reese suddenly blacked out.

➳➳➳

When she finally blinked her eyes open, Reese felt like she had been hit by a truck. Which, coincidentally, _had_ , in fact, happened before, so she knew what that felt like. 

It had _not_ been a fun experience or one she had wanted to go through again anytime soon.

She also felt as if she might puke, so as Robin helped her sit up, Silverbird put her head between her knees and took a few deep breaths.

After a few seconds, in which Reese didn't, fortunately, lose her lunch, she sat back again, looking up at Dick as he extended a hand for her.

He gently, mindful of her injured arm, helped her stand, as M'gann tended to Conner, and Wally suddenly jerked awake, before wincing again.

"And _there's_ the headache," the speedster muttered.

"Psimon?" Robin asked quietly, and M'gann looked down at her feet for a moment before glancing up again.

"He brain-blasted you," she said simply. "I stopped him,"

Maybe it was because Silverbird's brain was still muddled from the whole blacking-out-because-of-a-mental-attack thing, but she _knew_ that M'gann was lying about something.

Though, when Reese glanced across the room and saw Psimon laying catatonic amongst a pile of broken glass and chairs, she decided it better if she _didn't_ confront M'gann about it.

"Wow," Reese muttered as she stared at the defeated psychic. "Remind me never to get on your bad side,"

M'gann sent a small smile her way, but it didn't change the way that Reese had an odd feeling in her gut. 

If Psimon hadn't been the one to brain-blast her and the boys, did that mean _M'gann_ had done it? But why? Why would M'gann attack their minds while she was fighting another psychic? It didn't make any sense.

➳➳➳

As it were, they still had the whole Queen Bee situation to deal with, so in the morning, after Psimon had been taken in by the _proper_ authorities and Harjavti freed from his control, the President stood on the balcony of his palace in Dhabar as Queen Bee, or someone who looked like her, was blocked from entering by the Quraci military.

"What do you mean the President _won't_ see me?" Queen Bee cried when she was stopped by two Quraci soldiers. "He _invited_ me!"

"Not of my free will!" Harjavti retorted, giving the exclamation off of his balcony with his daughter Noor at his side. "No! But, now that I _am_ free of your minion's thrall, the Quraci people will _never_ suffer your tyrannical rule!"

The civilians who had gathered around the entrance gave loud cheers as they realized their freedom from Queen Bee was still in place.

"Mark my words, Harjavti," Queen Bee shot back as two soldiers began to lead her away. "You _will_ suffer for this. Qurac _will_ be mine!"

Once the press conference was over, Harjavti, his daughter, Superboy, Kid Flash, Robin, Silverbird, and Kid Flash were inside the president's now-destroyed office, when the door opened, and Queen Bee walked through.

Of course, it wasn't _actually_ Queen Bee. M'gann had shape-shifted into the villainess to give the Bialyans _and_ Quracis proof that the ruler of Bialya was the one behind Harjavti's sudden willingness to ally himself with her, and despite the moral ambiguity of the plan, it had worked.

"Sorry you had to lie to everyone like that," Dick said quietly as he walked up. "But, I couldn't think of any other way to convince the public that Queen Bee was behind this,"

" _Dude_ ," Wally suddenly cut in as he lightly punched his friend in the shoulder. "Saving a country. Pretty big win for your first turn as _Leader_ ,"

"Yeah," Dick said quietly as he rubbed the spot where Wally had hit. "...Thanks,"

Reese, who was standing on Robin's other side, suddenly leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, turning her partner's face bright red and making Wally grin.

"Nice job, Boy Wonder," she whispered, and Dick scuffed the toe of his boot against the ground.

"It was nothing," he said quietly, but Reese just interlocked her fingers with his and gave Robin a smile that, if Dick were being honest, almost made him pass out.

"Well, _I_ thought it was pretty cool," she said. "You're a hero, Robin," Silverbird added after a moment. "You're _my_ hero,"

➳➳➳

By the time the five of them returned to the Logan Animal Sanctuary, Garfield had woken up, and judging from the way Marie had been acting when they landed, he was going to be okay.

Thank _God_.

Now, the five young heroes were in the living room of the farmhouse again, watching a news broadcast that showed one Bruce Wayne shaking hands with Harjavti.

" _And I assure you,_ " Bruce was telling the Quraci President. " _The Wayne Foundation is here to do whatever it can to help you and your people rebuild Qurac,_ "

"Gee..." Wally muttered from where he was standing behind Robin's chair once Marie had flipped off the television. " _Bruce Wayne_ sure got here fast. Almost like he knew--"

Dick suddenly rammed his elbow into the redhead's abdomen, making it look as if he had simply been looping his hands behind his head as he sent KF a look, Wally wincing as he rubbed the spot where Robin had elbowed him.

"Don't you have a _souvenir_ to collect or something?" the Boy Wonder asked, and Wally grinned before bopping his palm off his forehead.

" _Hello,_ Megan!" the speedster exclaimed, before running over to the entertainment center and grabbing the VHS tape from earlier and holding it in front of M'gann's face. "Something you'd like to _tell us_?"

For a moment, M'gann glanced around, but when she realized that everyone, even Marie, was looking at her rather expectantly, the Martian sighed.

"Growing up on Mars was...not a happy time for me," M'gann began slowly. "But, I started watching the broadcasts my uncle sent from Earth, to teach us about our sister planet? When I saw _Hello, Megan!_ something just...clicked. Maybe it was the similarities in our names; maybe it was the way all of Megan's problems could be solved in twenty-two minutes. All I know for sure is, that Megan helped me smile through a lonely childhood. So..." she added after a couple of seconds, glancing up at Marie. "When I came to Earth and had to adopt a human form, I chose you. Well, Megan,"

From their spots next to each other across the room, Dick and Reese exchanged a glance with each other, before Robin leaned forward in his chair.

"Which, begs the question," the Boy Wonder began. "What do you really look like?"

M'gann still looked a bit self-conscious, but after a moment, she stood up from her seat and walked to a spot in the room where everybody was able to see her.

Then, M'gann's hair retreated back into her head, leaving her head smooth and bald, and her browbones jutted out above her eyes, and she looked more similar to her uncle J'onn.

"Bald M'gann," Wally murmured after a moment, before hissing out of the side of his mouth: " _Still hot_ ,"

Reese kicked his shin, making the speedster wince as Conner stood up from his seat and walked up to his girlfriend, gently taking her hands in his.

"You know you don't have to put on a mask for me," Superboy said quietly, but M'gann just stepped away from him, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I do it for me," Miss Martian clarified, making her hair reappear. "This is who I am. _Inside_ ," she glanced towards Marie again. "Please don't be mad,"

"Mad?" the older woman echoed. "I'm _honored_. M'gann, you saved my son. He says he's your blood brother now, and I agree. You're family,"

M'gann smiled and walked across the living room so she'd be able to hug Garfield's mother, which she did so with gusto.

"Thank you," she breathed, sounding very relieved. "You can't know what that means to me,"

Suddenly, a sharp whistle came from off to Reese's right, and she turned in time to see Wally dragging Dick out the door, the speedster throwing the brunette a thumbs-up behind his back as they went.

As M'gann went to check on Garfield, Reese glanced over at Conner, who looked as confused as she did with Robin and Kid Flash's quick departure.

Outside on the porch, Wally shut the front door behind him before he suddenly rounded on the Boy Wonder, eager to set his plan in motion.

"Dude," the speedster began. "You need to ask Reese out,"

"What?" Robin exclaimed, sticking his head around to make sure that Reese, of all people, wasn't listening because that was the _last_ thing he needed right now. "You're telling me this _now_?"

"Please," Wally scoffed teasingly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I saw you two after we saved Harjavti. I saw that _kiss_ ,"

"Reese was just being nice," Dick shot back, though whether he believed that himself or not, Robin wasn't entirely sure yet. KF, on the other hand, was not convinced.

"Reese is nice to a lot of people," the redhead retorted. "She's nice to me, and she didn't give _me_ a kiss after we saved Vlatava from Count Vertigo. Face it, Grayson, _she likes you_ ,"

"I don't know," Dick muttered, glancing down at the ground as he crossed his arms. "I mean, I tried telling her at your birthday party a couple of weeks ago, but I think I made her upset so..."

When he glanced up at Wally again, Dick saw the speedster standing there with the _most_ offended look on his face that Robin had ever seen, and after a moment, Kid Flash sighed heavily, his entire torso moving with the action before he braced his fingers against his forehead.

"Dude, seriously," Wally began. "And I thought _I_ was the one who didn't understand social cues,"

"What are you talking about?" Dick asked, thoroughly confused, but Wally just shook his head.

"Nope, no more talking from you," the speedster waved a hand in Dick's face, cutting off whatever the Boy Wonder had been going to say next. "Cupid West is at work here. Look, Reese told me about what you said at the birthday party, and she thought you were talking about _someone else_. That's why she was upset, Dick. It's not because she doesn't like you, but because she thinks you're in love with _someone else_ ,"

"Oh," Robin said quietly, and Kid Flash gave a nod.

"Yeah,' he agreed, before shaking a finger in Dick's face. " ' _Oh_ '. Look, just suck up some confidence, because I _know_ Dick Grayson has some, and go get your girl. Lord knows it's taken you long enough,"

"I'm not going to do it right _now_ ," Robin cut in, waving his hands, and Wally visibly deflated. "Come on, KF, we just got done with a mission. This isn't really the best time,"

"Fine," the speedster sighed heavily, before fixing his friend with a stern look. "But, as _soon_ as we get back, you ask her out, alright?"

"Alright," Dick admitted, but then Wally stuck out his hand, pinky up in the air.

"You pinky-swear?" he asked, and Dick stared at him.

"Seriously?" he retorted, but Wally only shook his hand, gesturing with his pinky. "Fine, yes, I pinky-swear,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at Wally playing Cupid.
> 
> I'm enough of a 21st-century baby (born in 2004), that I have absolutely no idea what an eight-track is. I basically grew up watching every single Disney movie on VHS, so I know what that is, but not an eight-track. With that, I have no clue.
> 
> The next chapter is when Dick and Reese finally get together, and it will mostly be an original storyline with Disalyn figuring out who robbed Wayne Tech (which Reese mentioned in Misplaced) since the original episode focused primarily on Conner at Cadmus.
> 
> I realize I probably won't be able to finish the first season by New Years', even though I wrote this chapter in two days, but hopefully, I will finish the first part within the first week of January.


	28. 26. Agendas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is over 25k words, so I advise you to grab a snack, a drink, and strap in for one hell of a wild ride.
> 
> Enjoy!

**W A T C H T O W E R**   
**November 25, 06:54 EST**

Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman stood together on one of the large extending platforms within the Watchtower, overlooking the gardens, where a flock of birds flew, chirping and squawking as they went.

Other than that, though, it was silent, before finally, Diana spoke.

"Times like these," the Amazon began solemnly. "One feels the very weight of the world upon us,"

The sound of footsteps from behind made all three Leaguers turn, to see Aquaman walking towards them from deeper inside the Watchtower.

"Everyone is here," Orin said simply, and the other three followed him into the meeting room of the Watchtower, where Flash, both Green Lanterns, Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, Captain Atom, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, Doctor Fate, and the Hawks were all waiting.

As Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Superman walked inside the room, panels started to slide down, sealing off the room for privacy, before King Orin spoke up again.

"Our agenda is clear," the Atlantean began. "What's at stake should _not_ be underestimated,"

"The decisions we make today will reverberate for years to come," Superman explained.

" _And_ influence whether or not the world continues to put their trust in the Justice League," Wonder Woman added before finally, Batman spoke up.

"Please, take your seats," the Dark Knight said. "We have work to do,"

Once everyone had sat down at the large, horseshoe-shaped table in the center of the room, J'onn stood up, the first one to voice his opinion.

"Another expansion of the League could generate another escalation of hostilities from our enemies," the martian opinionated firmly. "No one needs or wants _another_ Injustice League,"

"Point taken," Superman cut in from his spot beside J'onn. "But, the option remains to vote ' _no_ ' on all candidates. So, I nominate Icon for League membership,"

A holo-screen appeared above the table, showcasing a tall, dark-skinned man with a stern look on his face.

"Why?" Green Arrow scoffed across the table. "Because you suspect Icon might be Kryptonian? Like you did with Captain Marvel?"

"You thought _I_ was Kryptonian?" Captain Marvel asked from where he sat next to Oliver. "Cool!"

Clark and Diana stared at the other hero for a moment before Wonder Woman gently set a hand on Superman's arm.

"Icon interests me also," she said quietly, before bringing forth another holo-screen, this one as a young woman with short hair and brown skin. "As does his protege, Rocket. Athena knows the League could use more _female_ members,"

Dinah and Shayera both gave their agreement, while the _male_ members of the Justice League looked fairly disconcerted.

Regardless of whether Icon and/or Rocket were considered for induction into the League, the adult heroes certainly had a lot of work ahead of them.

And they had only scratched the surface of what needed to be discussed today.

**S T A R C I T Y**   
**November 25, 08:03 PST**

Richard John Grayson was in a bad mood.

It wasn't because Batman was currently up on the Watchtower at the yearly Justice League meeting discussing God knew what, and it wasn't because Alfred, who was working on the Thanksgiving dinner for tonight, had unceremoniously kicked him out of the house so the young Boy Wonder wouldn't end up breaking anything in his boredom.

No, Dick was in a bad mood because in the thirty-six hours it had been since the Team returned from their mission protecting Rumaan Harjavti from Psimon and Queen Bee in Bialya, Reese's injury had acted up again. The bullet wound she had sustained at the Democratic Palace got a bit surly, and her right arm was currently in a sling for the next couple of weeks because of it.

And Dick blamed himself.

He should've been ready when the Bialyan commander had raised his gun. Robin's head had buzzed in the couple of seconds there were before Silverbird was shot, the danger sense that always seemed to happen now whenever one of them was in danger, but Dick hadn't been fast enough to stop it from happening.

Luckily, Reese had been able to dodge the bullet from where its original target had been her heart, and it had hit her arm instead, but still, that didn't mean that Dick felt as if he should've been the one to take the bullet for her, to shield Reese from it, to do... _something_.

To make himself feel better about letting Reese down by not being able to stop her from getting shot, and also to make due on Wally's pinky-promise, after Alfred had kicked him out of Wayne Manor, Dick had made the short zeta-trip to Star City.

Even though it was almost lunchtime in Gotham, on the opposite coast it was just inching past eight a.m., so instead, Dick and Reese were going out for a semi-late breakfast.

Dressed in civvies, of course. _Imagine_ if Robin and Silverbird walked into a restaurant. The press would go mad.

Dick didn't think he was being very good company though, considering his mind was still preoccupied with thoughts about Bialya, _and_ wondering how he'd manage to ask Reese out on an _actual_ date.

He didn't want to be too forward with his request, because Dick _knew_ Reese wasn't into that, but honestly, he had no idea what to do. This explained a lot of the aspects of why he hadn't asked her out sooner.

Dick was just hoping that Reese hadn't noticed how distracted he was.

"I thought Batman was supposed to be the brooding one, not you, Boy Wonder," Scratch that, _of course,_ she had noticed, and at Reese's statement, Dick snapped his head up.

The brunette had kept her voice down because of how crowded the sidewalks were this morning, but the two of them had stuck close to each other as they walked down the street, if only so they didn't get separated.

"What?" Dick asked, still not entirely coherent, and from where she was walking on his right side, Reese lightly bumped her good shoulder against his, brown eyes looking fairly worried.

"Dick, you're pretty distracted," she said softly, and the thirteen-year-old reached up, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "Guess I'm feeling a little overwhelmed," Dick couldn't stop himself from flicking his eyes over to Reese's right arm, which was securely in a sling.

When she noticed where he was looking, Reese sighed.

"Stay whelmed," she told him, earning a small smile from the Boy Wonder, regardless of how weak it was, at her use of his own word. "I'm _okay_ ,"

Reese had been repeating those two simple words for the last day-and-a-half because she _knew_ that Dick blamed himself for what had happened, even if there really hadn't been anything he could've done to stop it.

"Yeah, I know," Dick said finally, looking down at his shoes as the two of them continued along the sidewalk. "I was just...scared,"

Scared that maybe the bullet had hit an artery and Silverbird would end up bleeding out on the floor of Harjavti's office. Scared that maybe Reese's wound would get infected. Scared that--

His morbid thoughts would've continued had Reese not grabbed his hand in hers. Star City was no Gotham in terms of weather, but it had started to get cooler the longer autumn went on, so at the moment, both of them were wearing coats and hats to fight off the creeping chill.

"Your hands are cold," Of course, _that_ was the smoothest thing Dick could come up with to say because he was nothing if not totally enamored with the brunette next to him. He could also feel the chill from Reese's hands through his own gloves.

Meanwhile, Reese glanced to the side, her face turning a faint pink, and this time it was from something other than the cold.

"Sorry," she said quickly. "I, uh, left my mittens at home," Dick was slipping his own gloves off and onto Reese's hands before she had even finished. "Dick, no!" the younger girl protested. "Now you'll be cold,"

"Please, Rhysalin," Dick scoffed, looping his arm with Reese's and sticking his hands in his coat pockets. There. Still close to her, and his hands weren't going to freeze. "I'm from Gotham. I think I can survive a bit of wind chill,"

"The wind chill is only technically how cold you feel when outside during the winter," Reese piped up after a moment, making Dick glance down at her again. "It's not how cold you actually are,"

"There," he told her as they finally neared the destination Dick had decided on before he had managed to pick Reese up from Oliver's apartment half an hour earlier. "See? No freezing hands. I'll be fine,"

"That's not exactly how it works, Dick," Reese repeated, completely oblivious to where Dick was taking her. He had been very secretive when the two of them had left the apartment. "But, I appreciate the sentiment,"

The Boy Wonder sent her a grin, his mood much improved from before, just as he paused in front of a window display, Reese coming to a stop beside him.

"Hey," Dick spoke up after a moment, making Reese glance at him. "You want cookies and doughnuts for breakfast?"

The smile Reese sent him threatened to rival the sun, at least in Dick's opinion, and after a moment, he led her inside the small bakery, which had opened a couple of hours before, and both of them were instantly met with the smell of different sweet treats.

The bell above the door jingled as Dick and Reese walked in, and a voice from the back of the small shop called out " _Be with you in a moment!"_.

A couple of seconds later, a tall woman with mocha-colored skin and dark hair entered the main bakery, tying the strings of an apron behind her back.

"Hi!" the woman greeted them as Dick and Reese walked up to the display cases. "I wasn't thinking we'd get any customers in today. Opening on Thanksgiving was my husband's idea, and most of the time, he has good ones, but today--" Dick and Reese glanced at each other before the woman abruptly cut herself off. "I am _so_ sorry!" she exclaimed, waving her hands. "I didn't mean to ramble. I'm Callie Rome, the owner. What can I get you guys this morning?"

"What do you want?" Dick whispered, leaning down so he'd be able to talk in Reese's ear, and for a moment, she didn't say anything, before finally making a beeline for a display case that held rows and rows of different types of cookies.

Callie followed them from behind the counter, and Dick couldn't help but laugh at the undeniably gleeful look that overtook Reese's face as she stared at all of the different desserts. Finally, Reese's eyes landed on a tray of massive chocolate chip cookies that had to be at _least_ six inches in diameter, and she grinned even wider.

Reese was acting like a kid in a candy store. Or, more accurately, a pre-teen vigilante inside a bakery. Dick loved it.

Dick loved her.

Seeming to interpret the look on Reese's face, Callie gave a small smile, before reaching into the display case with a pair of plastic tongs and taking two of the massive cookies out. She set them on a small plate, before turning to Dick.

"And you?" she asked, and the thirteen-year-old perused the selection for a couple of seconds before flicking his eyes over to glance at Reese. The brunette was practically vibrating already from the onset of a sugar rush, and she hadn't even eaten anything yet.

"Just a couple of frosted doughnuts, please," he answered after a moment, and Reese snapped her head up.

"Ooh!" she exclaimed, scurrying over to another display case, where trays filled with different doughnuts sat. "Can we get some crullers, too? French Cruller doughnuts are _delicious_!"

"Of course," Callie answered, smiling. "Those are actually one of our more popular items,"

There were a few tables and chairs set up at the front of the bakery as well, so Dick and Reese mutually decided to just eat there, instead of going outside again. Dick got a coffee--to which Reese wrinkled her nose--before paying, and then joined Reese, her doughnuts, her cookies, and _his_ doughnuts at a table in the corner next to the front window.

Maybe it was the fact that they had both been semi-taught by Batman for the last couple of years and it was, at this point, a reflex for them to keep their guards up at all times, but Dick and Reese both sat next to each other with their backs to the wall, only starting to eat when they were sure nothing was going to happen.

It was unlikely anything would, but honestly, they could never be too careful.

That wasn't to say though, that the cookies and doughnuts weren't absolutely _delicious_. Now, Dick knew he and Reese had eaten delicious doughnuts before, and chocolate chip cookies had always been one of Reese's big-time food weaknesses, but these were out-of-this-world good.

The two of them didn't say much as they ate, but it wasn't an awkward silence, and instead leaned more towards companionable.

Once, after he had finished his doughnuts and went to take a sip of coffee, Reese grabbed his wrist before he was able to grab it.

"What?" he asked, and Reese smirked.

"Drink it slowly," she told him. "Remember the last time?"

For a moment, Dick had no idea what she was talking about before he remembered the time the two of them, plus the rest of the Team, minus Zatanna had worked a case from Captain Atom to clear the name of a soldier from the Vietnam War who had seemingly murdered his commanding officer.

After each following their own leads and realizing that the people originally involved with the soldier's case were all being hunted down and murdered by a high-tech samurai, the Team had met up at a diner in Metropolis to compare notes, and because, at the time, Reese had been running on less than an optimal amount of sleep, she had ordered a cup of coffee, if only to keep herself awake.

She hated coffee of any sort, and Dick knew that. Because of it, he had chugged the entire drink in less than ten seconds and as such, burnt his mouth for the next week.

"...Right," he muttered back in the present, and Reese smiled again before Dick took a sip-- _slowly_ \--from his coffee.

Before they had left the apartment, Reese had grabbed her sketchbook and the messenger bag she carried it in, and after she had finished eating, she pulled it out.

Dick tried to take a peek at what she was drawing, but when he leaned over to look, Reese snapped the cover shut.

"You can't see it, yet!" she exclaimed quietly, careful not to disturb Callie or the other customers. A few more people had walked in after they had, and now the other tables at the front of the bakery all had different customers sitting at them. "It's not done!"

"Why not?" Dick asked, a bit miffed. "Pretty bird, you've shown me unfinished drawings before,"

"I know," Reese answered quietly. "But, this is your birthday present. It has to be _perfect_ before I show you!"

"My birthday present?" Dick echoed. His fourteenth birthday was in less than a week, but honestly, with all that had gone on recently, he'd forgotten about it. As it were, realizing that what Reese was drawing was, in fact, his birthday present, that just made Dick want to see it more. "Now I _really_ have to look at it!"

"Dick, _no_!" Reese exclaimed again, this time stuffing her sketchbook back in her bag. "It's a surprise. Honestly, I'm just glad I'm not right-handed. I never would've finished your present in time,"

"I _am_ sorry about that," Dick repeated, staring down at his empty plate as Reese took a sip of her hot chocolate out of the homemade mugs that Callie used in her bakery (her husband was a potter). Dick's mug had a design of a forest on it, Reese's was colored like the night sky. "Pretty bird, if there was anything I could've done--"

"Stop," Reese cut him off before Dick could finish, and she set down her mug. "I told you, there was nothing you could do. And Dick, I'm _okay._ You need to stop blaming yourself. This isn't the first time I've gotten hurt on a mission,"

But, it was by far one of the _worst_ injuries. And that was what made Dick worry.

He glanced up at Reese again, only to start laughing. The brunette sent him a look, obviously wondering what was so funny. She didn't seem to notice the small dollop of whipped cream that was on the tip of her nose.

"What?" she asked once Dick had managed to control his laughter, and he leaned forward, gently swiping the whipped cream off with his thumb.

"I think the whipped cream is trying to eat _you_ , pretty bird," he said quietly as Reese's eyes snapped to look at his thumb.

"Why didn't you tell me it was there?" she asked, face flushing, and this made Dick smile even more.

"I just did," he retorted, and Reese gave him a look that essentially said she was decidedly _not_ impressed.

"Funny," she deadpanned, before glancing at something over Dick's shoulder and smiling. "I think we have an audience,"

Dick twisted around in his seat to see what Reese was looking at, or rather, _who_ she was looking at, just in time to see a hair full of dark curls duck behind a nearby booth.

"Someone shy," Dick spoke up after a moment when the small head didn't reappear. "Apparently,"

"Sit across from me," Reese said suddenly, making Dick glance over at her with a quizzical look on his face. "Trust me,"

Shrugging, the teenage Boy Wonder stood up and walked around the side of the table he and Reese were sitting at, before plopping down in a chair across from the brunette.

"What's your plan?" he asked, keeping his voice hushed, but Reese just waved her uninjured hand in front of his face, cutting off whatever Dick had been going to say next before she leaned over the table, closer to him.

"Just watch," she whispered, before sitting back again and taking out her sketchbook.

Sometimes, Reese's mind confused Dick, but there were seldom a time where her plans didn't come to fruition, so for the time being, he sat back in his chair and took out his phone, only to see that he had a multitude of unread text messages and even a couple of missed calls, all from Barbara Gordon.

Dick groaned, slumping down in his chair, and closed his eyes as Reese flicked her eyes up at him from her sketchbook pages again.

"What?" she asked quietly, and Dick straightened up again, unlocking his phone and sliding it over to Reese.

"I totally forgot," he muttered as Reese scrolled through the texts that Dick hadn't realized he'd gotten. "Barbara and I have a science project due on Monday. We were supposed to work on it today in Gotham,"

"You should go," Reese said after a couple of seconds, sliding Dick's cell phone back over to him and taking another sip of her hot chocolate as Dick gave her an odd look.

"What?" he asked, thoroughly confused. "Why? I'm spending the day with you--at least until tonight--I don't think I really have to worry about some dumb lab report,"

But, Reese just gave him a look that Dick had a feeling she'd likely used on Roy once or twice before when Red Arrow had been in one of his "moods". There was also something else in Reese's eyes though if Dick really looked for it. Something that seemed almost... _sad_.

"Dick," the brunette repeated herself, bringing Dick back into his head before he could decipher that unknown emotion too far. "It's schoolwork. I doubt _I'm_ more important than your project's grade,"

The thirteen-year-old hero thought that statement was _highly_ debatable, but his phone buzzed again with another text from Barbara before he could say anything.

"Are you sure?" he asked quietly, still a bit hesitant to head back to Gotham because Dick _had,_ in fact, been looking forward to spending the day with Reese (and maybe _finally_ getting around to asking her on an _actual_ date), and he didn't want to just leave.

But, Reese only gave another nod, sending Dick a smile that made him feel warm all the way to his toes. "I'm sure," she said after a moment, before nodding her head towards the door. "Go,"

To say Dick was still feeling indecisive would be an understatement, but the sound of his cell phone ringing cut off any further argument the Boy Wonder would've made.

"You don't want to keep her waiting, Dick," Reese said softly as Dick glanced down at his cell phone, seeing Barbara's Caller ID flashing on the screen. "I'll see you later,"

Sighing heavily, Dick stood up, grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair and pulling it on. He turned back to Reese, only to have the brunette kiss his cheek as she stood up from her own chair.

For a few seconds, Dick was left completely speechless, and Reese smiled at him before he finally found his voice again.

"Later?" he asked, and the brunette in front of him gave a small nod as Dick's phone began to ring again. Dick thought his ringtone was beginning to get annoying. "I promise, this project shouldn't take long,"

"This afternoon," Reese confirmed as she sat down again. "Besides, if you're not here, that means I might be able to finish your birthday present before Wednesday,"

Dick _really_ didn't want to leave, but he had to admit that Reese did have a point when she said that he did, in fact, have to get his science project done. He just wished he didn't have to get it done _today_.

This time, Dick was the one to kiss Reese's cheek as he got ready to walk out of Callie's bakery, and didn't lean back right away. When he did, he glanced down at the brunette.

"I'll see you later?" he asked again, and Reese gave a small laugh, using her uninjured hand to lightly shove Dick towards the door.

" _Go_ , you dork," she said. "I promise, I'll be fine,"

Sighing again, Dick finally turned around and walked out of the delicious-smelling bakery, only to stop and lean against the wall of a building right next to it, finally taking out his phone to answer Barbara's call.

"Yeah?" he asked, only for his red-haired friend's voice to come through his phone's speakers, and honestly? She sounded a little bit pissed.

" _Dick, where have you been_?" Dick winced, leaning away from his phone as Barbara's voice basically assaulted his eardrums, but she stopped her rant fairly quickly. " _I've been calling you for over half an hour_ ,"

"Sorry," Dick said quickly. "My phone was turned off. What did you need?"

" _What did I need_?" Barbara echoed. " _Maybe my partner for our science project? I went over to your house, but Alfred said you had left. Dick, that report's due in four days, where are you?_ "

"Uh..." Dick trailed off for a couple of seconds, wondering what he could say without making Barbara suspicious. Though considering her dad was the police commissioner, that wasn't a lot, and after a couple of seconds of deliberation, he decided to just go with the truth, if only he tweaked it a little bit. "Star City?"

" _Star_?" Barbara echoed. " _How'd you get all the way out there so fast? Dick, that's a nine-hour flight. Did you leave at 2 a.m. this morning_?"

"Private jet," he answered simply, hoping Barbara didn't read into his half-truth too quickly. Because that's what it was. A half-truth, and thus not _entirely_ a lie.

Wayne Tech did, in fact, own a private company jet that could fly almost as fast as the speed of sound, but that wasn't how Dick had gotten to Star City (obviously), and Barbara didn't need to know how he really got there, because as of this moment, she didn't know he was Robin.

" _Well, can you have your 'private jet'--_ ," Barbara began. "-- _bring you back to Gotham? Because I'd really like to get this project done,_ "

"Actually, Babs," Dick began after a moment, scuffing the toe of his sneaker against the sidewalk, the coldness of the brick wall he was leaning against beginning to seep through his jacket. "Can we reschedule? I mean, the project's not due until Monday, right? Why don't we just work on it over the weekend?"

" _Who are you and what have you done with Dick Grayson_?" Dick found himself rolling his eyes at Barbara's question but glanced over again at the entrance to the bakery. He _really_ wanted to get back inside. " _Dick, working on the project today was_ _your_ _idea!_ "

"Yeah, I know," he began. "But something came up, and I can't work on the lab report right now. Please, Babs, can we reschedule for Saturday?"

For several seconds, the other end of the line was silent, before finally, Dick heard Barbara give a sigh.

"... _fine_ ," she muttered, and Dick pumped a fist in the air, not caring who might be watching. " _I guess I can do my part of the report today, and then just compare notes with you in a couple of days. But, you owe me, Grayson,_ "

"When do I not?" he retorted, smiling. "Thanks, Barbara. I--"

Suddenly, Dick was cut off from thanking his friend when his phone dinged and taking it away from his ear, he saw that Wally was calling.

"Sorry, Babs," he said quickly. "I gotta go. I'll see you Saturday?" Barbara agreed, and Dick hung up before answering Wally's call.

" _You're an idiot, Grayson,_ "

For a couple of seconds, after he answered his cell phone, Dick blinked, before regaining his composure and spoke into his phone to retort Wally.

"Excuse me?" he shot back. "What's that supposed to mean?" Dick heard Wally scoff on the other end of the line before Kid Flash spoke up again.

" _I_ _mean_ _,_ " the redhead began. _"What kind of person ditches the girl he's in love with to go to work on some stupid school project with_ _another_ _girl_?"

Dick didn't know how Wally knew about what had just happened, but the Boy Wonder rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth, leaning against the wall again before he answered the speedster's question.

"It's not like I wanted to!" he exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down before people started to give him odd looks. "Reese said the project was more important than she was,"

" _And you believed her_?" Wally shot back, and Dick huffed out a breath.

"Of course not!" he exclaimed. "But, you know how she gets. She basically kicked me out!"

" _Are you in Gotham_?" Wally asked, and even though the speedster couldn't see him, Dick shook his head.

"Nah, I haven't left Star yet," he began. "I actually rescheduled with Barbara so we could work on the project in a couple of days instead. I was just going to head back inside the bakery when you called,"

" _Bakery_?" Wally echoed, sounding vaguely offended. " _You mean you're having delicious and filling carbohydrate treats_ _without_ _me? Richard John Grayson, how dare you_?"

Dick rolled his eyes again before answering Wally. "First of all," he began. "What have I said about using my full name? And, second of all, it wasn't exactly something that constituted having a third person tag along,"

" _Ooh,_ " Wally muttered, and Dick swore that at some point, his eyes were going to roll out of his head. " _You mean like a_ _date_?"

"If I say yes will you stop talking?" the Boy Wonder shot back, only to elicit Wally's cackling on the other end of the call.

" _I don't care what you say, Rob,_ " the speedster added after he finally regained control and remembered how to breathe. " _You and Reese are by_ _far_ _the cutest..._ "

Dick didn't catch whatever Wally was saying next because, at that moment, his back went ramrod straight against the wall of the building, and his head buzzed, the golden arrowhead growing warm from where it hung against his chest.

"Wally, I gotta go," the thirteen-year-old said quickly, adrenaline spiking, and hung up, cutting off the speedster's teasing and exuberant gushing.

Whipping around, Dick faced the entrance to the bakery, and his eyes landed on a tall man who had just pulled the door open.

At first glance, he didn't look like much. Mid-thirties, six-feet tall, buzzed hair, muscled. Dressed in a winter jacket, just like everyone else on the street right now.

But, then the guy pulled out a black ski mask, and Dick saw the gun.

➳➳➳

The minutes before the gun was pointed in her face were pretty uneventful, but then again, Reese figured that's how it always was in the moments leading up to a robbery.

Dick had just walked out, and as soon as he was gone, Reese sunk back in her chair, frowning as she stared into her mug that was half-filled with hot chocolate and now-melted marshmallows.

Reese knew that she had been the one to tell Dick to go back to Gotham to work on his science project with Barbara, but that didn't mean she felt _good_ about it.

It also might not have been one of her smartest ideas, considering the last time Reese and Barbara Gordon had run into each other, the last time Oliver had had "business" in Gotham, the commissioner's daughter had told the brunette that she had a crush on Dick.

Why Barbara had told _her,_ Reese had no idea, but that didn't change the fact that she knew about it. For all Reese knew, _Barbara_ might be the girl that Dick had been talking about at Wally's party.

Pulling out her own cell phone, Reese quickly fired off a text to Wally. It was a bit difficult texting with only one hand, but she managed.

Regardless of whether or not Reese was planning on telling Dick how she felt (she still wasn't entirely sure if she was going to), Kid Flash had become her sounding board, and despite his exuberant personality and brazen actions, Wally West was a good listener.

_**To:** _ _Wal-Man a.ka. Wally_  
 _I need help._

Even though speedsters weren't on time for everything, Wally always texted back fairly quickly, and a few seconds later, Reese's phone dinged.

_**From:** _ _Wal-Man a.k.a. Wally_  
 _With what?_  
 _Cuz if it's something baddie related, u should probs call Rob_

_**To:** _ _Wal-Man a.k.a. Wally_  
 _Dick's what I need help with._

For a few minutes afterward, the speedster didn't text back, and just when Reese was thinking she wouldn't get anything back, her phone buzzed, only this time, it wasn't a text, and Wally had called her instead.

"Hey," Reese said once she answered the phone, and she could hear Wally moving around on the other end.

" _Hi_ ," the redhead greeted her back. " _What's up_?" Reese shrugged her good shoulder before realizing that Wally couldn't see her, then she sighed.

"I don't know if I can do this, Wally," the brunette said quietly. "Tell Dick, I mean,"

" _Why not_?" Wally asked after a few seconds of silence. " _Reese, you'll never know if he likes you back if you don't tell him,_ "

"I could," Reese retorted softly. "I could straight-up ask him if he likes me without ever telling him that _I_ like _him_. Easy,"

" _Would you actually do that, though_?" Wally asked, and Reese sunk down in her chair again.

"...No," she admitted. "Plus, he's not even in Star City anymore. He had to leave to go back to Gotham,"

" _What?"_ Wally sounded surprised. " _Why?"_

Reese shrugged again before she answered. "He and Barbara had a school project to work on,"

" _And he just_ _left_?" Wally echoed, his voice raising a couple of octaves before he gave a series of angry-sounding mumblings under his breath. " _That little..._ "

"Wally's that's not how it--" but, the soft click from her phone told Reese that Wally had already hung up, and she sighed again. So much for telling the speedster that Reese had been the one who told Dick to leave.

After a moment though, Reese stood up, taking the empty plates that had held her and Dick's breakfast and bringing them over to the small counter near the register, where Callie was standing, elbow-deep in soap suds.

"Hi!" the older woman said when she noticed Reese standing at the counter, and the dark-skinned baker leaned back, wiping her hands on a nearby towel. "Did you like your cookies?"

"I did!" Reese exclaimed, giving Callie a smile. "I know you said you were the owner, but do you bake everything yourself?"

Callie laughed and gave Reese another nod. "Fresh every morning," she answered, before a girl, maybe a few years younger than Reese herself, popped up beside Callie, nose in a book, and when Reese read the cover, she noticed it was a mythology guidebook.

Reese gave the other girl an odd glance, wondering what she was doing behind the counter, and when Callie noticed where she looking, she gave another small laugh and gently grabbed the book-focused girl's shoulder.

"Sorry," the baker said quickly. "This is my daughter, Nia. I can hardly ever get her to look up and see the world, but I think she likes fictional worlds better anyway,"

Nia was the small person that Reese had seen watching her and Dick earlier before Dick had left to go back to Gotham.

"It's not fictional, Mommy," the girl corrected her mother, glancing up. "It's history. Have you ever heard of Wonder Woman? She came straight out of ' _mythology_ '. The Amazons were who fought Hercules thousands of years ago,"

"Heracles, actually," Reese clarified softly, and Nia turned to glance at her, her dark eyes and soft facial features clearly reminiscent of her mother. They really did look alike. "If you're talking about the Greek version, it's Heracles. Hercules was Roman,"

"Oh," Nia said quietly, but Reese gently reached over and grabbed the suddenly-despondent child's hand.

"But," the other brunette began. "You're very smart to know that about him. Most people who pay attention to Heracles's twelve labors focus more on his feats against the Hydra or Nemean Lion. Most forget about when he needed to steal Hippolyta's belt as his ninth labor; a way to make up for a crime he committed,"

The crime having been committed was the demigod killing his wife and children, but honestly, Reese didn't say that last part. Plus, even though Heracles did _twelve_ labors, the Nemean Lion and the Lernean Hydra were only Labors #1 and #2.

Nia beamed in response to Reese's fact-dump, and Reese was glad she had cheered the younger girl up before she tilted her head.

"How old are you?" she asked Nia quietly, and the other girl set her book down on the counter before holding up both hands.

"Eight!" she exclaimed gleefully, having held up all the fingers on her right hand, but only three on her left.

"Cool," Reese answered, before holding out her left hand; her uninjured one. "My name is Reese, and I'm twelve,"

Nia smiled again before Callie spoke up, making Reese glance up at her.

"You know," the woman began, flicking her eyes down to the counter, where the mugs that Dick and Reese had used earlier were sitting. "Those mugs are actually for sale. You can buy them if you want,"

"Really?" Reese asked, smiling. She did enjoy the mugs. Callie had said earlier when Reese and Dick had first received the hot beverages, that her husband was a potter, and made all the ceramic-ware in the bakery in a workshop in the back, but she never knew that you could actually _buy_ them.

"Really," Callie answered, as the bell above the door to the bakery jingled again. "Let me just quickly wash them, and then I'll ring them up for you,"

"That won't be happening," a rough voice said from over Reese's shoulder, and she heard Nia let out a whimper before the archer turned around, only to be met with a gun pointed straight at her face.

Reese definitely did _not_ want to get shot _twice_ in less than forty-eight hours, but with her right arm still injured, there wasn't much she could do.

Plus, it wasn't as if she could deck this guy with a Canary Cry in the middle of Callie's bakery without totally obliterating her secret identity.

God, Reese wished Dick were still here.

"Empty the register," As the guy holding the gun nodded roughly towards Callie, he wore a black-knit ski mask, and even though all Reese could see were his eyes, they were cold, and she knew he wouldn't hesitate to shoot someone if he didn't get what he wanted.

Callie had nudged Nia behind her, and now the eight-year-old huddled underneath the counter, clutching her book to her chest.

Reese felt her heart clench as she realized that Nia was the exact same age _she_ had been when she lost _her_ parents, and what kind of hero would Reese be if she allowed another young girl to lose her mother in a violent way as she did?

"What if she doesn't want to?" Reese sucked down the fear that came with having a gun pointed at your face and ignored Callie's protests against her defiance as she turned her head up and met the robber's eyes.

"Then she's gonna get a bullet to the head," he sneered, waving the gun around to instead point it at Reese again. "Like you, sweetheart, if you keep mouthing off,"

"Really?" Reese let out a laugh, grinning as she saw the robber's eyes squint behind his mask. "I get that you're, like, a bad guy or whatever, but seriously? Who tries to rob a _bakery_ on Thanksgiving? Did your parents not give you enough cupcakes to be thankful for or something?"

"I swear to _God_ ," the robber continued, his voice rising. "I _will_ shoot you, kid, if you don't shut up,"

Then, Reese got an idea.

A dumb idea, and one that probably her dad, Dick, Dinah, _and_ Roy would all metaphorically kill her for, but if it meant that Callie and Nia, and all the other civilians still in the bakery made it out of this alive and in one piece, then so be it.

Time to play the ' _child of a billionaire_ ' card.

"I know where you can get more money than robbing a bakery," she piped up, and this time, she caught the criminal's full attention.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, sounding genuinely baffled, and Reese took a deep breath before tilting her head.

"Don't tell me you don't recognize me," she began, and when the criminal tilted his head, Reese made a tsking sound with her teeth. "Wow," she said. "What rock have _you_ been living under?"

"What do you want, kid?" the bad guy snapped, as he steadied his gun-holding hand and clicked off the safety. "I'm done playin',"

"So am I,"

Reese snapped her head at the new voice, just as the front window of the bakery shattered as Dick swung in, in full Robin regalia, slamming both of his feet into the criminal's chest and throwing the taller man back against the display case and breaking the glass, causing spiderweb-like cracks to appear on the surface.

For all of five seconds, Reese and everyone else in the bakery were totally confused. Sure, she had wished that Dick were still here, but she didn't expect him to _actually show up_.

It seemed that the would-be Thanksgiving robber was just as discombobulated as Reese was, because once he regained his bearings after being literally thrown into a case of croissants, he tilted his head up, and gave Robin a look that was equal parts infuriated and confused.

"Robin?" he asked. "Star ain't your city. What are you doin' here? Where's the Bat?"

"I was in the neighborhood," the Boy Wonder began simply. "And Batman isn't coming," Then, Dick took his eskrima sticks out from where they were usually holstered behind his back and spinning them around for a few moments. "Now, you going to surrender on your own? Or am I going to have to make you?"

Reese had met criminals like the robber before. They usually had nothing to lose and were willing to make as many casualties as possible, if only so they would be able to save their own skins in the end.

"I'm not going back to prison," the robber muttered, before surging forward. For two seconds, Reese's breath caught in her throat, worried something was going to happen, something that hadn't _already_ happened, but Dick was ready.

Robin brought his knee up and slammed it underneath the criminal's chin, snapping his head back before Dick spun around, using his other foot to kick the robber in the temple.

The gun went off, but fortunately, the shot went wide, thankfully not hitting Reese or anyone else, and sending the criminal and his gun sprawling in opposite directions across the floor of the bakery.

All in all, the fight was over in less than two minutes.

Once he was sure the bad guy was unconscious, Robin walked over to where the gun had slid almost halfway across the bakery, and slid the clip out, making it clatter to the ground. Then, he turned around, just as Reese let out a relieved breath, slumping back against the counter.

The other customers who had still been in the bakery when the now-unconscious gunman entered had fled when Robin had broken in, and Reese could see they were now gathered on the sidewalk outside.

She could also hear sirens in the distance, but they were getting closer, and she sighed again. Reese _hated_ dealing with cops, Silverbird, or no.

Maybe it was a bit of a cliche since most police departments frowned upon vigilantism, but Reese was still familiar with some officers on the force from the year between when her parents had died and when Roy and Dick had found her, and they were _not_ mutual fans.

If anything, now that Reese had been adopted by Star City's arguably richest man, there were still some at the SCPD who worried that she'd turn out to be some sort of stereotypical rich-kid "wild-child".

Oliver Queen's public reputation was less than spectacular, and the police were wary that the blond billionaire would end up passing those traits onto his daughter.

Ha, as if.

"Are you okay?" Reese glanced up again to see Robin staring at her, one hand held out, and his voice the epitome of professionalism.

Because Rhysalin Queen, Star City Princess, wasn't supposed to _know_ Robin, the Boy Wonder of Gotham City.

Reese would've _loved_ to explain that yes, they did in fact, know each other. Reese was even in love with him.

"I'm good," she answered after another second, and though Dick looked a bit dubious behind his domino mask, he didn't say anything more, and instead turned next to where Callie and Nia had straightened up again from where they had been crouching behind the counter.

"Are you two okay?" Robin asked them, and though Nia and her mother both looked a bit awestruck, Callie finally managed to give a small nod.

"Yes," the older woman answered. "We're okay. Thank you, Robin,"

"All in a day's work, ma'am," Dick responded, ever the gentleman, as he quickly sent Callie and her daughter a two-finger salute. "But, now, I need to be getting back to Gotham. Don't want to let the bats out of the cave,"

Even though Reese thought that semi-joke didn't really make sense, Robin turned to leave anyway but stopped when Callie held up a hand.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, before both Robin and Reese turned to look at her, Reese noticing in the back of her mind that the police sirens were getting even closer. "You can use the backdoor to avoid the pandemonium outside. It'll be quicker,"

Robin gave another nod before he walked out through the kitchen, and when Callie and Nia were distracted themselves by heading out the front, Reese grabbed her mugs, dropped some cash on the counter so Callie wouldn't think she had stolen them, and followed after her partner.

She _really_ didn't want to deal with giving the police her witness statement right now (or ever), because inevitably, if she did, they would probably end up calling her dad, and that would be a _whole_ other set of problems, considering Green Arrow was currently thousands of miles above the surface of the earth on the Watchtower with the rest of the Justice League.

Reese also almost forgot to grab her bag and jacket, but luckily, she was pretty adept at using only one hand to multi-task, so she wrapped the ceramic mugs in her hat before sticking them in her messenger bag and pushing the backdoor open, a chilly wind instantly blowing into her face.

Dick, still dressed in his Robin suit, was leaning against the wall of the alley behind the bakery when Reese exited it, and when she paused next to him, the Boy Wonder gave the brunette a glance from the corner of his eye.

" _Please_ ," he began after a moment. "Don't tell me you were about to play the ' _child of a billionaire_ ' card when I came in,"

Reese shrugged her good shoulder and gave Dick a sheepish smile because honestly if there was anyone who knew her mannerisms and strategies better than Green Arrow himself, it was Robin.

"Sorry?" she said finally, but Dick only shook his head, huffing out a laugh as he bent down to pick up a duffel bag that was sitting near both of their feet.

"Rhysalin," Dick murmured as he unzipped the bag, unclipping his cape and utility belt and tossing them inside. "You're insane," Then, taking out the hoodie he had been wearing earlier, Dick pulled it on over the rest of his costume. "But, you're also the most gorgeous person I know, so I guess it cancels out,"

"You _guess_?" Reese echoed, her face flushing at the compliment as Dick also pulled on a pair of jeans that had also been stuffed in the bottom of the duffel bag before she leaned against the wall of the alley and glanced at Dick again. "I thought you were in Gotham already,"

She saw Dick's hands still from where they had been tying his sneaker laces, and Dick set his foot down as he turned back to look at her, eyebrows scrunched together as he peeled off his mask and tossed it in his bag.

"You didn't think I'd just leave you, did you?" he asked quietly, but all Reese did was shrug again. Dick sighed, reaching up and running a hand through his hair as he leaned against the wall beside her. "I rescheduled with Barbara," he said after a moment of silence, and Reese snapped her head to the side. "We're working on the lab report on Saturday instead. I said I was going to spend the day with you, pretty bird, and I intend to do that,"

"Dick, you don't--"

"Stop," Dick's voice was stern enough that it made Reese pause in her protest, and she glanced up at him again as Dick gently cupped her cheek. "I didn't even _want_ to work on the project today, because I wanted to spend time with _you_ , pretty bird. I-I _love_ you, Rhysalin,"

It was then, that specific moment, that Reese swore her heart stopped. She stared at Dick for a few seconds, trying to read him, but she couldn't detect any lie in his admission.

Dick _wasn't_ lying.

"You do?" she whispered, just wanting to make sure, wanting to be absolutely _positive_ that this whole thing wasn't some sort of sick joke played on her by the universe, but Dick just smiled, nodding his head.

"Yeah," he answered softly. "I do. God, Reese, I'm _in_ love with you. I've been in love with you for--I don't even _know_ how long,"

"But..." Reese trailed off, looking down at her hands and fiddling with her fingers. "At Wally's party, you said--"

"Rhysalin," Dick repeated her name, his hands gently cupping her face, and the brunette glanced up at him. "I was talking about _you_ ,"

"Oh," Reese murmured, face turning hot as she realized that she had totally misread the conversation she and Dick had had at Wally's birthday party. After a few seconds, she took a deep breath. "I love you too," 

For a few seconds, Reese wasn't even entirely sure that Dick had heard her, but when his grin grew even wider, she knew he had.

And then he kissed her.

It didn't last more than three seconds, and it was only Dick's lips pressed against hers, but Reese swore that fireworks went off. Maybe that was another cliche, and maybe it was even a bit stereotypical, but she didn't care.

When Dick finally leaned away, he leaned his head down so his nose brushed against hers, and Reese's eyes fluttered closed again, her senses going into hyperdrive as she focused on the fact that Dick had _actually_ kissed her, and that she _wasn't_ dreaming.

"The Team's going to freak," Dick whispered, and Reese let out a small laugh.

"Let them," she responded, and this time, _she_ was the one who kissed Dick, leaning back again after a few more seconds. "Wally's going to lose his mind anyway,"

"I cannot _wait_ to see his face," Dick chuckled before Reese snapped her head to the side. Her senses were still going a bit crazy from the initial lip-contact, but they had dulled enough that her eardrums weren't still being assaulted by every single noise in the immediate vicinity.

"Shh," she quickly hissed, and Dick snapped his mouth shut. "Listen,"

Both of them froze, and distantly, Reese noticed how one of Dick's hands had fallen to her waist, before she shut her eyes again, and reached out with her super-hearing, straining to hear whatever it was that had caught her attention in the first place.

After a moment, Reese's eyes snapped open, and she gasped. Footsteps, coming from the street, walking towards her and Dick.

And with those footsteps came voices, one of which was mixed with what sounded suspiciously like radio static.

" _All units, report of a disturbance at_ \--"

"Crap," Reese muttered, glancing towards Dick again. "Cops,"

"Let's go," Dick whispered, and the two of them bolted, rounding the corner at the other end of the alley just as two officers entered the alley. All the two cops saw as they walked further down the darkened corridor between two buildings, was a flash of dark brown hair rounding the corner.

No one else was there.

➳➳➳

Back on the Watchtower, the Justice League was still going over potential new members to induct into their ranks, and decidedly, Captain Marvel was _not_ impressed with the most recent addition.

"Seriously?" Billy asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked towards the holo-screen that hovered above the table. "The Atom? I mean, how useful could he be at that size?"

"It's the size that _makes_ him useful," Batman clarified from his spot next to him, and Flash instantly gave his agreement from further down the table.

"Absolutely!" Barry exclaimed, making Captain Marvel and Batman both turn and look at the speedster. "Still," Flash continued, tapping the small holo-screen in front of him. "We could always use more raw power, and Earth _has_ a third Green Lantern. Guy Gardner,"

"No," Hal and John said in unison, turning to Barry with identical looks of resolve on their faces, surprising Flash a bit.

"But, we could really--,"

" _No_ ,"

➳➳➳

After the whole bakery debacle, Reese and Dick headed back to the apartment, and as Dick tossed the duffel bag holding his Robin suit onto the couch, Reese walked down the hallway to her bedroom, unclipping her sling as she went.

She may have _needed_ to keep wearing the fabric sling holding her arm secure for the next couple of weeks, but that didn't mean she had to keep it on 24/7. Plus, the sling made her arm itchy.

"Hey," Reese called over her shoulder to Dick as he pressed his face into the throw pillows on the couch. "You and Bruce ever find out who stole that stuff from WayneTech?"

" _No_ ," Dick groaned into the cushion, grabbing one of the soft suede pillows and hitting himself in the face with it. "How is Batman supposed to be the World's Greatest Detective if he can't even figure out who robbed his own company?"

"What about the cameras?" Reese asked as she pulled a navy blue Star City hoodie over her head, brushing her hair out quickly before tossing her messenger bag onto her bed. "Did you check them?"

"Pretty bird, I _told_ you," Dick continued, having followed Reese after a couple of seconds, and he now leaned in the doorway of her room. "The security system was offline for an upgrade. There _are_ no cameras to check,"

"I know about the WayneTech cameras," Reese said quietly, crossing her arms as she walked across her room to stand in front of Dick again. "What I'm talking about is the cameras _outside_ WayneTech. You know, traffic cams, ATMs, stuff like that,"

For all of fifteen seconds, all Dick did was blink, and Reese was beginning to think that his brain had short-circuited, when suddenly, the thirteen-year-old grinned.

"Oh, _duh_!" Dick exclaimed, quickly tapping at his watch, which doubled as a holo-computer when he was in civvies and pulled up a holo-screen. "Reese, you're a genius!"

"I try," the brunette said simply, before walking around Dick's shoulder so she stood next to him. "What are we looking for?"

"Okay," Dick began as his fingers flew across the glowing blue screen, managing to hack into the camera of an ATM that just so happened to be across the street from WayneTech. "The robbery happened on the 3rd, so regardless of whether or not it _was_ an inside job, that means the thief had to get the stolen R&D tech out _somehow_ , so if we fast-forward the feed..."

For the next couple of minutes, Reese's eyes flicked across the glowing blue screen as Dick went through the camera's footage, intaking information as she tried to look for anyone that might be suspicious enough to be the one to have robbed WayneTech, though, in Gotham, that could still be pretty much _anyone_.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, grabbing onto Dick's wrist about two minutes into rewatching the feed. "I saw something. Rewind it,"

As the camera footage started to go backward from where Dick had paused it at Reese's exclamation, Reese narrowed her eyes, trying to look for what she had noticed, when suddenly, she pointed at a spot on the holo-screen.

"There," she said simply, and Dick enlarged the section of the screen where the two were looking, then enhanced the image. "Wow," Reese muttered once she got a good look at their suspect. "I didn't think our would-be Batman thief would be so young,"

The person that Reese had identified couldn't be more than sixteen years old, and if Reese hadn't been a vigilante for the last three years, she likely wouldn't have noticed him at all, but she did and judging from the black stealth suit and duffel bag bulging with stolen WayneTech pieces, this was their guy.

Aside from managing to stump Batman and Robin for the last three weeks, there was also one critical mistake the thief had made.

He hadn't worn a mask. So, thanks to Dick's skills of enhancing the image gained off of the ATM, Reese was able to get a _pretty_ good look at their thief.

He was blond, and like Reese had said earlier, probably not older than sixteen. He was on the thin side, but obviously unassuming enough to manage to rob WayneTech without getting caught.

Reese tilted her head to the side, studying the thief for a couple of seconds, before glancing at Dick, wondering slightly why he hadn't said anything about the thief yet, only for her eyes to widen.

It wasn't often that Dick got angry, the only times Reese had ever really seen him lose his temper was on Santa Prisca, before Aqualad had taken over leadership of the Team, and the few times he and Batman had gotten into arguments about something or another.

But, now...now Dick looked _really_ angry.

He hadn't been wearing his sunglasses all morning, there really hadn't been a need to, but right now his eyes were blazing with a dark blue fire, and a muscle was ticking in his jaw.

"Dick?" Reese asked quietly, lightly grabbing onto his arm, if only to gain his attention, and judging from the way Dick jumped when Reese grabbed his arm, he hadn't been fully... _there_. "You okay?"

"Fine," the Boy Wonder answered brusquely, lightly shaking Reese's hand off his arm and walking back down the hallway towards the front door. "I'll see you later,"

"Dick, wait," Reese said quickly, grabbing onto his arm again as he went to pass by her. "Where are you going?"

"Gotham," he answered simply. "I know who stole the R&D tech,"

"So do I," Reese answered, waving one hand vaguely towards Dick's watch. "Dick, we just identified him,"

"No, Rhysalin," Dick said quickly as he turned to face her, grabbing onto Reese's shoulders so she'd look him in the eye. "I _know_ him. He's in my class at school,"

➳➳➳

"If we're considering Blue Devil," Green Arrow began his own two-cents on the Watchtower. "Then, I nominate Red Arrow. Roy has more experience, and he's not a kid anymore. He's eighteen, a _legal adult_. He's ready,"

"Is he?" Aquaman echoed, giving Ollie a look from his spot beside Doctor Fate. "Red Arrow has been uncooperative and disrespectful. If we reward that behavior, what message does that send to the rest of the Team?"

"No," Superman answered simply. "Red Arrow may be eighteen, but the rest of the Team is _too_ young. We're _not_ inducting children into the League,"

A few seats down, Captain Marvel tugged at his collar, but for the time being, Billy didn't say anything. There was no need to jeopardize the fragile stability of no one talking about how he was only ten until now.

"That seems myopic," Fate cut in. "Aqualad has proven himself a capable leader of the Team, and I have been one with Kid Flash _and_ Silverbird. And though the latter continues to doubt her own abilities, _all three_ are ready,"

Green Arrow bristled in his chair further down the table as the Lord of Order finished his analysis. The _last_ thing Oliver wanted right now was for his _daughter_ to become one of the mainstream heroes with a target on her chest.

She was in danger often enough being the adoptive daughter of a billionaire. Ollie didn't need--or _want--_ the entire Justice League's enemies going after her.

"And what of Zatanna?" Diana piped up.

"Absolutely not!" Fate interrupted, but Wonder Woman only smirked.

"That sounded almost _protective_ , Doctor," the Amazon princess remarked. "At least we know Zatara is still in that Helmet somewhere,"

"Why _is_ Doctor Fate a member?" Captain Marvel finally stood up, glancing towards the Lord of Order, eyes narrowed. "You _coerced_ Zatara into giving up his life to you, or else lose his daughter. _Not_ cool,"

"Should such behavior be condoned?" Red Tornado asked, but Doctor Fate remained calm.

"Zatara desires Doctor Fate remain in the League," the sorcerer said sternly, and Ollie found himself scoffing.

"Oh, please," the archer muttered, disbelieving, but Fate only crossed his arms.

"It is true," the Lord of Order continued. "Zatara's trust in Nabu is... _measured_. He desires the League to keep a _close_ watch upon us,"

➳➳➳

After a quick stop to Wayne Manor to drop off his suit, Dick grabbed his motorcycle, and he and Reese were now driving along the streets of Gotham City, heading towards the home of the Hurdle family.

God, how had he been so _stupid_?

Dick had noticed how Frank Hurdle, the youngest Hurdle child _and_ the thief Reese had managed to identify off of Dick's holo-screen, had been acting strangely for the last couple of weeks, but he never thought that was because _Frank_ had been the one who had robbed WayneTech.

Frank was usually the shy one in class, never the person to speak up unless the teacher called on him, and even then he usually spoke in a whisper.

Guess that old saying was right, you really _did_ have to watch out for the quiet ones.

"You need to quit brooding," Reese's voice sounded from just past Dick's shoulder, and the Boy Wonder sighed.

"Sorry," he said quickly as he turned onto a side street into one of the upper-class neighborhoods of the city, the same neighborhood where the Hurdles made their home, Reese's arms tightening for a moment around his waist as he turned. "I just...I don't know _how_ I couldn't have realized that Frank was the thief,"

"You said that the two of you only share a few classes, right?" Reese asked quietly, and Dick nodded. "Then, it's not your fault. Unless you go out of your way to hang out with him, it's unlikely you would've noticed anything. It's not your fault, Dick,"

Dick didn't say anything else as he paused at a stop sign, letting his bike idle for a few moments. Finally, after glancing down at the map on the front console to make sure he and Reese were going the right way, Dick sighed again.

"You ever hear of the Hurdles before?" he asked, as the two of them passed house after house, all of them belonging to families that were both big money, _and_ old money.

"Eliza Hurdle is the heiress of a cosmetics company, right?" Reese asked, and Dick nodded.

"Yeah, the JewelKiss brand," he answered, after giving a sparing glance down to the file he had opened on the Hurdles. "I think they have a building out in Star,"

"Yeah, it's a block or two away from Queen Industries," Reese said after a moment, giving a thoughtful hum. "But, I think their corporate headquarters is in Gotham. Weren't they a part of a big scandal a couple of years ago?"

"Yeah," Dick answered. "These environmental activists found out that the research scientists for JewelKiss were poaching this endangered species of parrot from a nature preserve in the Amazon rainforest and using the feathers in their products. PETA and ASPCA got involved, along with the FBI. Eventually, a whole bunch of makeup was recalled and the surviving birds were brought back to the preserve, causing the company to take a major revenue hit,"

"Hmph," Reese muttered as the two of them neared the Hurdle house. "Serves them right,"

"Definitely," Dick agreed, before glancing over his shoulder at Reese again. "You ever use any of their stuff?"

"Please, Boy Wonder," Reese scoffed, quirking an eyebrow through the visor of her helmet. "When have you _ever_ known me to wear makeup? And even if I did, I wouldn't wear _JewelKiss_ ,"

"Why not?" Dick asked, and he felt Reese shrug.

"The colors are too tacky,"

"Yeah," Dick said after a moment, smiling. "You don't need makeup anyway,"

There had been one or two occasions, mostly within the last year or so, where Dick had seen Oliver's daughter with makeup on, usually at different charity functions, but even then, it was the bare minimum.

Nothing like the models in the old JewelKiss ads, who sometimes looked like they could be related to the Joker.

Plus, Dick thought Reese looked prettier without makeup on, anyway. But, that was just his opinion.

That also brought Dick back to what had happened earlier, to the kiss he and Reese had shared after Robin had taken down that would-be robber at Callie's bakery.

The young protege was absolutely _ecstatic_ that Reese returned his feelings (he had been terrified that she wouldn't), but Dick also wished that Reese also shared those same feelings about _herself_.

More often than not, Reese had to be reminded that she was an amazing person, and sometimes Dick wondered who exactly it was that had made the young brunette think that she wasn't the most endearing and breathtaking person in the entire world.

Dick just wanted to talk to them.

Finally, they reached Frank's house, and Dick brought his motorcycle to a stop. The large, sprawling manor land was still up there in terms of it coming from big money, but it was also _not_ in the same state of impeccable condition that the others in the neighborhood were.

The stone wall that encircled the property was overgrown with ivy and the iron gate that enclosed the entrance to the driveway had rusted bars.

Climbing off of her spot behind Dick on his bike, Reese took her helmet off and stowed it in the compartment on the back of the motorcycle, shaking out her hair before walking over to the dilapidated front gate and peering through the bars.

"You said JewelKiss took a major revenue hit after that parrot feather scandal?" Reese asked as Dick walked up next to her, and the Boy Wonder gave a small nod.

"Yep," he answered simply, and Reese jerked her thumb towards the rusted gate and overgrown wall.

"Well," the brunette said simply. "I think _this_ counts as fairly major,"

Reaching forward, Dick grabbed onto one of the bars of the gate and tugged. Surprisingly, with a screech of rusting hinges, the large iron gate managed to open, though it got stuck about eighteen inches out, and no matter how hard Dick pulled, he couldn't get it to move any farther.

"Guess we'll just have to squeeze through," Reese muttered before she turned sideways and slid through the gap between the two gate doors.

Shrugging, Dick followed, and within a couple of seconds, the two of them were standing on the driveway that led to the Hurdle mansion.

Luckily, though cracked and in desperate need of repair, the driveway was paved, so Dick didn't need to worry that he was going to trip over a hidden tree root and give himself a concussion.

Of course, that's what Dick thought until, about halfway towards the house, Reese suddenly dove on top of him, knocking both of them to the ground.

Then, Dick heard a ' _whooshing_ ' sound, and when he glanced up, he saw a spear stuck in the trunk of a tree three inches from where his head had been two seconds before.

"...thanks," he said quietly, glancing up at Reese, and she sent him a smile.

"Anytime, Boy Wonder," she answered. Then, Reese went to lean back, but before she could get to her feet, Dick surged forward and kissed her again.

Yeah, he _definitely_ wasn't going to get tired of doing that.

When the two of them finally stood up straight back on the driveway, Reese walked over to the opposite side of where she had tackled Dick to the ground, and crouched down, lightly running her fingers over the soft earth.

"What'd you find?" Dick said quietly, walking up next to her, just as Reese pulled something up from where it had been lying hidden underneath a pile of dead leaves.

"Tripwire," she said simply, and Dick's eyes widened as he studied the almost-invisible strand of fishing line. Due to the state of the driveway, he wouldn't have even noticed it if he snapped it, which was exactly what had happened. "Obviously, the Hurdles don't want any visitors,"

"We need to be careful," Dick continued as Reese stood up again. "Who knows what other nasty surprises are between here and the front door?"

And nasty surprises there were. As Dick and Reese carefully made their way towards the main Hurdle house, there was an entire arsenal of traps they encountered.

After the spear, there was a swinging log that almost knocked both of them down, iron bear traps hidden beneath a turf coating that they managed to clear by stepping very, _very_ carefully, and even a pit of wooden spikes that Reese would've fallen into had Dick not tugged her back by the hood of her sweatshirt at the last second.

Even though the arrowhead's danger sense hadn't been able to save Reese from getting shot, Dick was immensely grateful for the buzzing that occurred at the back of his head as he and Reese neared the Hurdles' front door.

Finally, once the front of the house was _actually_ in sight, the stifling grove of trees that Dick and Reese had been walking through for the last fifteen minutes cleared, and there was only a line of boulders between them and the front door.

Dick went to walk over, but Reese grabbed his arm before he was able to move very far, and he bit down a sigh. More traps, he realized as he saw Reese narrow her eyes as she studied the line of boulders.

_Great_.

"You have a smoke bomb?" Reese asked suddenly, making Dick glance at her, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah," he answered simply, slipping one out of his utility belt from where it hung across his chest underneath his own hoodie. "Why?"

"Throw it," Reese told him, and though he was still wondering what she saw, Dick complied anyway, throwing the small ball down on the ground with enough force that it exploded, sending dark gray smoke through the air.

When Dick saw what the smoke revealed, he swore he almost turned around and went back to Wayne Manor, without ever confronting Frank about why he had been the one to rob WayneTech.

Lasers. Why did it _always_ have to be lasers?

Thanks to Dick's smoke bomb, both he and Reese were able to see the field of moving red security lasers that stood between them and the Hurdles' front door, the final trap they had to overcome before they were able to ask Frank why exactly he had thought it'd be a good idea to rob Bruce Wayne.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me," Dick muttered, thoroughly fed up with this whole debacle, and wanting instead to confront Frank, find the stolen WayneTech _tech_ , and get this whole thing _over with_. "Talk about a disaster. _Heavy_ on the dis,"

"I'll race you," Reese said suddenly, making Dick snap his eyes towards her, only to see the brunette grinning. He had always known that she was a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but _seriously_?

"Fine," He admitted after a moment, wondering when exactly it was that he found himself unable to ever be able to tell Reese ' _no_ '. "On three?"

"On three," Reese agreed, nodding her head before she and Dick both got into ready stances and Robin started with the countdown.

"One..."

"Two..."

But, before Dick could finish by saying ' _three_ ', Reese jerked to the side, kissed him on the cheek, and did a flip, landing on an open patch of grass between two of the light-beams, and leaving the other protege effectively speechless... _again_.

"Oh, _come on_ , pretty bird!" Dick exclaimed once he got control of himself, still at the beginning of the laser field, while Reese was already halfway across. "That's not fair!"

"You're _losing_ , Boy Wonder!" she cried back at him, before executing a perfect back handspring that landed her on the grass on the far end of the laser field, out of the way of any of the lasers. "Ta-da!" Reese exclaimed, holding her hands above her head. "I win,"

Grumbling under his breath, Dick did a quick and simple gymnastics routine that got him on the other side of the laser field beside Reese in about ninety seconds, and when he straightened up again, he sent her a look.

"You cheated," he told her simply, but Reese only gave him an innocent-looking smile that would've made anyone else believe her. And honestly, if he hadn't been the one to witness it, Dick would've believed her too.

"Did I?" she echoed, brown eyes sparkling. "Didn't know you were such a sore loser, Richard,"

"I know you're calling me by my full name on purpose, Rhysalin, but it's not going to work," Dick shot back, trying desperately not to show how much Reese calling him by his full name _did_ , in fact, affect him.

Normally, Dick hated it when people called him Richard, as evidenced when Wally had done the same thing to him earlier when he had called, but...Dick didn't mind when Reese did it.

"You're _lying_ ," the brunette told him, lightly bumping her shoulder against his. "I know you are. Dick, you literally _can't_ lie to me,"

"I am _not_ ," Dick shot back, though judging from the way Reese quirked an eyebrow, she didn't believe him. Sighing, Dick glanced over his shoulder at the lasers that were still slowly moving through the air. "How'd you know the lasers were there anyway?"

"Rocks are fake," Reese answered simply, waving a dismissive hand back towards the line of boulders. "Plus, I saw a sensor built into one of them. And considering I couldn't _see_ the actual lasers themselves, I assumed a smoke bomb would make moving through them easier,"

"Smart," Dick piped up, and Reese sent him a smile.

"Why, thank you, Boy Wonder," she responded, before nodding her head towards the front door. "Now, you ready to do this?"

"Please, Rhysalin," Dick scoffed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "I've been ready since we left Star City,"

The Hurdle house was in much the same state of disrepair as the rest of the property, but the house was still habitable. The paint was peeling off the sides, and the porch was in desperate need of a skilled carpenter, but though it creaked when Dick and Reese stepped onto it, the two of them managed to get to the front door without falling through.

The front doors were made of oak, which was in surprisingly good condition, considering everything else that Dick and Reese had seen thus far, and in the center of one of the double doors was an intricately engraved brass door-knocker, in the shape of a roaring lion.

Dick grabbed the ring on the bottom of the knocker and hit it against the door a couple of times, and then he and Reese waited, but Dick's patience ran out after the first three minutes.

Finally, after a glance at his watch told Dick he and Reese had been waiting for almost eight minutes, Reese straightened up.

"Someone's coming," she hissed quietly, and Dick let out a breath.

_Finally._

Twenty seconds later, someone unlocked the front doors from inside the house, before one of the massive oak doors slowly opened, only for Dick to find himself face-to-face with Frank Hurdle himself.

For a few seconds, Dick's classmate looked shocked to find the other boy standing on his front porch, but after a couple of moments, Frank's face turned resigned, and he sighed, before opening the door wider.

Obviously, he knew why they were here.

"Hey, Dick," Frank said quietly. "I assume you've come about the tech?"

"Yeah," Dick said simply, crossing his arms as he and Reese followed Frank further into the house. "It took us a few weeks to figure out who stole it. I gotta admit, you covered your tracks well. You're still dumb as hell for thinking you could rob WayneTech, but you covered your tracks,"

Dick winced as Reese suddenly jabbed her elbow against his ribs, and he lightly rubbed the spot. Yeah, he might've been being a _little_ bit rude, but this robbery had put both his _and_ Bruce's secret identities at risk, so he was pretty sure he was entitled to at least a _little_ bit of pettiness.

Then, Frank's eyes landed on Reese, and he tilted his head.

"Who's your girlfriend?" he asked, and despite it all, Dick felt his face flush.

Even though he and Reese had now kissed a total of three times ( _yes_ , he'd been counting), the two of them hadn't actually _talked_ about what exactly they _were_. Relationship-wise, anyway.

But, even though this kind of thing usually would've made Reese blush as well, the brunette didn't even seem phased, only sticking out a hand towards Frank.

"Rhysalin Queen," she said simply, and Frank's eyes narrowed as he warily shook her hand, dropping his arm back down to the side a few seconds later.

"As in Oliver Queen?" he asked and tilted his head again when Reese nodded. "What are you doing in Gotham?"

"I owed Dick a favor," Reese explained quickly. "He wanted my help finding out who robbed his foster father's company,"

At that, Frank's own face turned red, and he rubbed the back of his neck, seeming almost sheepish, and Dick crossed his arms again.

"I'm sorry about that," he said, and from the corner of his eye, Dick saw Reese's eyes widen minutely. "It wasn't my idea,"

"Not your idea?" Dick echoed, surprised by Frank for the first time since he had opened the door. "Then whose idea _was_ it?"

Frank glanced around the foyer where the three of them were standing for a couple of seconds, before beckoning to Dick and Reese with one hand.

"Come on," he said quietly. "We should talk somewhere else,"

Frank started down one of the adjoining corridors, but when Dick went follow him, he felt Reese gently grab his arm.

"Don't tell me there are more traps," Dick muttered, glancing down at her, but Reese only shook her head.

"No," she answered after a moment, glancing away for a moment before she looked back at him. "No, it's not that. It's just...am I your girlfriend?"

Dick blinked once before he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean..." he trailed off. "Yeah, if y-you want to be. I think the three kisses counted towards that. No, wait--" Dick cut himself off, leaning forward and pressing his lips to Reese's for a split-second before he leaned back again. "Make that four,"

Reese gave a small laugh, glancing to the side for a moment before she reached down and grabbed Dick's hand in her own.

"I'd like that," she said quietly, before gently beginning to tug him down the same hallway that Frank had gone down a minute before. "Now, let's go find out who Frank was working for before he figures out that billionaire _Bruce Wayne_ swings around in the middle of the night dressed as a flying mammal,"

Though that was actually _exactly_ what Bruce did, Dick couldn't help but laugh at the mental image. But, Reese's statement also brought the young Boy Wonder back to reality, because he and Reese _did_ need to find out who Frank had been working for before Batman's entire vigilante career was flushed down the drain.

Frank was waiting for them in what looked like a home office, and he was sitting down in a stuffed armchair when Dick and Reese walked in.

As the two of them sat down on a small couch across from Frank, a glass coffee table between the three, Frank sighed as he braced his elbows against his knees.

"As you have probably seen," Frank began after a few moments. "Despite public appearances, my family is no longer up there in terms of being part of the ' _Gotham Elite_ '," he used quotation marks on the last two words, and Dick leaned back in his seat.

"We met your security system outside," he said simply, and Frank glanced up at him.

"Yeah," the other boy began. "That's been there for years, and my mom hasn't managed to figure out a way to shut it off. Usually, we just leave the back way,"

"What made you desperate enough to try and rob WayneTech?" Reese asked softly, and Frank shifted in his chair to look at her, one eyebrow raised.

"Isn't it obvious?" he scoffed sharply, making Dick bristle before Frank waved a hand around the room. "Money. After the whole JewelKiss scandal two years ago, all of my mother's company profit margins took a major hit, and basically, our entire fortune went ' _poof'_. My grades were good enough that I was able to stay at Gotham Academy on scholarship, and we've managed to keep most of it under wraps, but in the upper-crust of Gotham, it'd be easier to hide the fact that you're a _superhero_ than the fact that one of the families has no money,"

Dick couldn't stop himself from glancing over at Reese for a split-second, only to see that she was looking at him as well, brown eyes wide as saucers. Honestly, Frank didn't know just how close to the truth he was.

And that was what they were hoping to _avoid_.

"You said that it was someone else's idea for you to rob WayneTech," Dick said after a moment, making Frank look at him again, and the young hero tilted his head. "Who?"

Frank gave a heavy sigh, before he glanced down at the floor, eyes staring hard at his shoes for several seconds before he finally spoke.

"He said that because I was one of your classmates--" he began. "--that no one would question me being in the building after hours. The secretary just assumed I was asking you a question about school when she gave me the visitor pass,"

"Who told you to rob WayneTech?" Dick asked again, his patience wearing thin (again), and he saw Reese glance at him out of the corner of her eye.

Again, Frank sighed, before he finally looked up, and met Dick's eyes.

"Simon Stagg," he said simply, and both Dick and Reese were struck speechless. But, even if the two of them were able to speak, Frank continued his explanation before they could. "Stagg said he'd compensate my family for the money we'd lost after the scandal if I'd be the one to break into WayneTech for him and steal some of Bruce Wayne's prototypes,"

And it _just so happened_ that most of Bruce's prototypes, even the ones _not_ connected to the Dark Knight, _were_ , in fact, developed withinthe R&D department, so hopefully, that meant neither Frank nor Stagg had any clue that Bruce Wayne was Batman, _or_ that Dick moonlighted as Robin.

_Thank God_.

Though judging from the few instances that Dick had had the displeasure (heavy on the dis) of meeting Simon Stagg, usually, whenever the older businessman came in to talk to Bruce, the young Boy Wonder had come to the conclusion that Stagg was a crooked and shrewd businessman who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, so honestly, who knew what else Simon Stagg knew?

That did _not_ make Dick feel any better.

"Did you deliver the tech you stole straight to Simon Stagg?" Reese asked, having gotten over her initial shock of having heard that Stagg was the one who had paid off Frank, but Dick's classmate only shook his head.

"No," he answered after a moment. "That wasn't part of our deal. Mr. Stagg told me to get the WayneTech products out of the company and then bring them down to a warehouse he owned out of a shell corporation down at the docks, where he'd pick them up himself later,"

"Which warehouse did you deliver the prototypes to?" Dick asked, realizing that if he and Reese got to the stolen prototypes before Stagg picked them up, this whole thing could be over like _that_.

Sighing again, Frank glanced up and leveled Dick with a steady look that told the Boy Wonder that his classmate was both apologetic for what he had done, and wanted Stagg to obviously get what was coming to him.

"Warehouse 16,"

➳➳➳

"Plastic Man," Batman said simply as a holo-screen appeared above the Justice League's meeting table, and beside him, Captain Marvel let out a chuckle, though Billy quickly covered it up with his hand.

Flash, meanwhile, was less than impressed.

"I don't know," the speedster began quickly, leaning forward in his seat and holding out a hand. "The guy's got a pretty substantial criminal record,"

This time, Captain Marvel wasn't able to control his giggles, and he burst out laughing, though he also quickly held up a hand to ward off any reprimands.

"Sorry," Billy managed to say after a few seconds, wiping a tear that had escaped out of his eye with one finger. "I'm sorry. The guy just cracks me up,"

But, instead, every other Leaguer was staring at Captain Marvel, as if they had all suddenly been reminded that, despite Superman's statement earlier that they weren't allowing children into the Justice League, the team of adult heroes, had, in fact, _already_ inducted one.

"Maybe it's time we all talked about the elephant in the room?" Barry asked, sighing, before addressing the rest of the League. "Should Captain Marvel stay a member, now that we really only know that he's ten years old?"

"He _does_ possess an adult body and the Wisdom of Solomon," Red Tornado spoke up, though Aquaman quickly cut him off.

" _Wisdom_ ," the Atlantean King clarified. "Does _not_ equal maturity,"

"Hey!" Marvel exclaimed, a bit exasperated. "I'm sitting _right_ here!"

"Then, Billy," Black Canary began softly, leaning forward in her seat. "Maybe you should leave. Until we've hashed this out,"

"No," Surprisingly, the protest came from Batman, of all people. "Captain Marvel is a _member_ and is entitled to participate until or _unless_ he's voted out,"

To say Billy was relieved would be an understatement, but before he could say anything, Wonder Woman interrupted.

"It's not _just_ his age," Diana began sternly. "It's the fact that he lied about it,"

"I didn't lie," Captain Marvel told her, before glancing to the side. "... _exactly_. I just _left out_ the part about being a kid,"

"A lie of omission is still a lie," Wonder Woman continued. "You kept an important secret from us. _No one_ in the League knew the truth,"

"I knew," Again, the statement came from Batman, and Diana twisted around in her chair to glare at the Dark Knight, fists clenched above the table.

"I don't know why I'm surprised," the Amazon princess continued after a moment. "Since you indoctrinated Robin into crime-fighting at the ripe old age of _nine_ ,"

"Robin _needed_ to help bring the man who murdered his family to justice," Batman began, though Diana still wasn't convinced.

"So he could turn out like you?" she scoffed, but Batman only gave her a steady, and slightly saddened, look.

"So that he _wouldn't_ ," Bruce corrected her before Wonder Woman rounded on Green Arrow.

"And what about you?" she snapped, and Ollie crossed his arms, scowling.

"What _about_ me?" he echoed, voice bordering on a growl, but Diana's eyes only narrowed even more.

"Do you billionaires make it a habit of taking in orphaned children and dressing them up in bright costumes to fight crime?" Wonder Woman asked, making Green Arrow's jaw clench. "You've said it yourself before, Arrow, that your daughter's powers are unstable. Her Canary Cry is _twice_ as strong as Dinah's own. For all we know, Reese could end up hurting someone. She could end up hurting one of _us_ ,"

"She wouldn't do that!" Oliver exclaimed, standing up from his seat so fast that it was knocked backward, and Captain Marvel, from where he sat beside the Emerald Archer, leaned back a few inches. "Not on purpose, and you know _that_ , Diana. When Robin and Red Arrow found Reese in Star City three years ago, her powers were just starting to fully manifest, and she was _scared_. Reese didn't know what was happening to her, and she needed an outlet. Being Silverbird _gave_ her that outlet. Until you have kids of your own, _Princess_ , you do _not_ get to tell me how to be a parent. Because you don't know what it's _like_ ,"

"Oliver," Batman cut in swiftly, and Green Arrow snapped his gaze over to the Dark Knight, eyes blazing behind his mask.

" _What_?" he growled, hands clenched against the table, but Batman's expression didn't change.

" _Sit. Down._ "

Though the archer's temper was boiling like that of an overheated pot of water, the blond man complied, sitting back down in his chair (which Captain Marvel had sat upright again), and glaring at Wonder Woman from across the table.

After several minutes of angry, tense silence passed, Martian Manhunter finally stood up from his own chair and looked out at the rest of the Justice League.

"You seem to have reached a consensus that eighteen years is a suitable minimum age for joining the League," the Martian began. "Yet what of Miss Martian? Though she is a biological adolescent by Martian standards, she was born _forty-eight_ Earth years ago,"

"So what is the deciding factor?" Red Tornado asked calmly. "Chronology or biology? Take Superboy..."

"Exactly," Dinah added. "He's less than a year old. Does he have to wait _seventeen_ more to stand beside us?"

From across the table, and at the mention of Conner, Green Arrow saw Superman glance away, and he scowled again.

Now _there_ , the archer decided was someone who didn't know how to be a parent.

➳➳➳

Peering over the edge of the roof across from the warehouse where Frank had said he'd delivered the stolen tech, Silverbird narrowed her eyes.

She and Robin were laying on their stomachs on the roof, having stopped back at the Manor to grab their suits, and were now waiting for the perfect opportunity to move in on Warehouse 16 and ( _hopefully_ ) get the stolen WayneTech technology back before Simon Stagg discovered how to use it.

"What do you see?" Dick whispered from beside her, and Reese strained her vision a bit before she finally turned her head to glance over at her boyfriend.

Boyfriend... _wow_.

"Eight guards with assault weapons patrolling the perimeter," she murmured quietly, gesturing lightly with one hand. "They round the corners every five minutes, so if we time it right, I _think_ we can get inside without them noticing us, though that also doesn't account for how many bozos are on the _inside_ ,"

"Then," Dick piped up, waving a pair of binoculars around. "We go stealth-mode. _And_ high-tech,"

"High-tech?" Silverbird echoed. "With what? Bird-watching?"

"Ha. Ha," Robin deadpanned, before pressing a button on the side of the binoculars that made a yellow-tinted lens flip down onto the front. "No. Actually, it's these x-ray binoculars. My own invention. Uses research I made from studying how Superman uses his x-ray _vision_ so I could create something that could help an everyday person see through walls. Pretty cool, right?"

"Definitely," Reese answered, grinning as Dick pointed the binoculars towards the warehouse and looked through them. "What do you see?"

"The crates that held the stolen tech are definitely inside," Robin answered, pulling the binoculars down from his eyes. "All the boxes that B uses for his stuff are lined with lead, both so the Boy Scout can't see through them, _and_ so they're protected from any sort of radiation,"

"Bruce is weird," Silverbird murmured again, and Robin glanced over at her, eyebrow raised behind his mask.

"You're just _now_ realizing this?" he asked, and Reese sent him a dry look before Dick turned back to the warehouse. "Anyway, yeah, there are clumps throughout the warehouse that these binoculars can't see-through, so I'm assuming those are the crates. We find those, make sure the tech's in there, then deliver it back to WayneTech with Simon Stagg being none the wiser. But..."

He trailed off for a moment, and that was what made Silverbird glance over at him again, one eyebrow quirked.

"What is it?" she asked, and Robin shrugged, seeming almost sheepish.

"Along with the crates," he began slowly. "I was also able to see about a dozen more guards _inside_ the warehouse, plus the ones already outside,"

"Wow," Reese muttered, running her teeth over her bottom lip before she shrugged. "We can take them,"

"You can't be serious," Robin stared at the brunette next to him as if she had just grown a second head. "Pretty bird, normally I'd be all for it, but, right now? You're sounding like _me_ , and it's a bit freaky,"

"Maybe it's just because I've been spending so much time with you, Boy Wonder," she retorted, and Reese was able to hear Dick hiss a breath out from between his teeth.

"The last time we went up against this many bad guys, Rhysalin," Dick began, his hands clenching around the sides of his binoculars. "You got shot,"

" _Yeah_ ," Reese admitted slowly. "But, those Bialyan soldiers also had high-tech Apokiliptan weapons, and--"

"You got shot with a handgun,"

"Are you done?" Silverbird asked suddenly, and Robin shrugged. Even he didn't know if he was. "Look," Reese cut in, waving her right arm around to show Dick that she was, in fact, okay. "Full range of motion,"

Sure, her arm twinged a little bit, but it was nothing compared to the initial pain right after the commander's gun had gone off. _Plus,_ it felt even better, now that Reese wasn't wearing her sling. That might've been a bit counter-intuitive, but it worked.

Suddenly, much like she had done to him when the two of them had been trying to make their way to talk to Frank, Dick dove on top of Reese, rolling both of them across the roof of the warehouse where they had been laying as the sound of gunfire exploded around them, and the spot where Reese had just been laying was shredded as bullets tore through the metal sheeting that made up the roof.

As she and Robin finally rolled to a stop, Silverbird felt her shoulder hit the roof particularly hard, and she winced. Dick noticed the movement, and he gave her a look.

"Full range of motion?" he echoed, and Reese shrugged. _Oops._

Then, Robin took out another smoke bomb and threw it down to the cement below, the cover added by the small gadget giving the both of them an opportunity to jump down from the roof, vault off of a dumpster, and jump right into the fray, Stagg's thugs thoroughly confused about what was going on.

Even though Reese had (unintentionally) given away the position where she and Dick had been hiding, the guards that Simon Stagg had hired were relatively low-profile, and thus, not very smart.

So, as the six guards who had originally investigated the newly-arrived smoke cloud stumbled around confused, Robin and Silverbird moved like wraiths, taking down the thugs one by one with a surprising amount of stealth, despite the fact that the guards now knew they were here.

As the smoke cloud began to clear, and Reese hit one guard in the face with his own gun, her head suddenly buzzed, which then led to her vision splitting once more.

Along with watching through Robin's eyes as the Boy Wonder landed a solid right hook to a thug's jaw, Reese was also able to see Dick through her own eyes on the other side of the smoke cloud, which _also_ meant she was able to see one of Stagg's men sneaking up behind Robin, quiet enough that Dick wouldn't have been able to notice him on his own.

But, due to the magic that was the arrowheads given to Reese by Kent Nelson, and the fact that Silverbird was _literally_ watching his back, Robin was warned of the impending attack before it happened, and he ducked, pivoting on his foot and swinging his opposite leg out at the guard just as the thug raised his gun, and Dick was able to both knock the other guy to the ground and knock him out before the gun went off.

Reese flipped another one of Stagg's men over her shoulder, before glancing around and realizing that, somehow, in the adrenaline rush that always seemed to erupt within her when she did anything relating to fighting evil, Silverbird hadn't even noticed that she and Robin had managed to take down every one of the guards that had been patrolling the perimeter outside the warehouse.

Of course, that also meant that there was still a dozen more of Stagg's hired muscle guarding the crates _inside_ the warehouse, but for the time being, Reese was too hyped up on her adrenaline giddiness to care.

"And _you_ were worried about our odds," Silverbird spoke up, glancing towards Robin as Dick finished tying up the groaning guards, the Boy Wonder sending his girlfriend a grin as he walked over to her.

"I never said I was worried," he tried to justify. "Just that usually, it takes more time, _and_ more people, to defeat bozos like this,"

"Way to downplay the accomplishment, Robin," Reese muttered, turning around again to face the main warehouse, and as she noticed movement come from inside, the brunette assumed Dick shrugged from behind her.

"I'm not downplaying anything," the Boy Wonder continued quietly as he and Silverbird crept closer to the warehouse. "I actually thought it was pretty cool. I'm just stating a fact that _usually,_ it'd take more than two people to take down that many guards,"

"Yeah, well--" Reese began, noticing an open window on the upper level that she and Dick would be able to enter in order to get into the warehouse. "--those guys were pretty dumb,"

"You think we had an advantage?" Robin whispered as he shot his grappler up into the air, so it locked onto a support beam on the roof of the warehouse.

"In terms of higher IQs?" Silverbird asked as Dick wrapped an arm around her waist and allowed his grappling line to pull both of them up to brace themselves on one side of the open window. "Definitely."

As Reese poked her head around the side of the window, she quickly flicked her eyes around the parts of the warehouse she could see.

The WayneTech crate were definitely inside, Silverbird could see a few of them stacked in a pile on top of a table on the ground floor, the technology being guarded by four thugs who were at _least_ twice as muscular as the ones who had been guarding the perimeter.

"Still think we can take them?" Robin whispered in her ear, and Reese gave him a dry look over her shoulder.

"Do we have a choice?" she asked him finally, and Dick shrugged before Silverbird hopped down onto a ledge that lay underneath the window, balancing on her toes so she wouldn't fall off the three-inch-wide opening.

Shuffling to the side, Reese moved so Dick would be able to stand next to her, and the two of them peered over the windowsill into the warehouse.

"We don't have to take them all down with brute force," Robin suddenly hissed out of the side of the mouth, only for him and Silverbird to duck down when a guard passed by the window they were crouching in front of. "I have a better idea,"

"Like _what_?" Reese whispered back, flicking her eyes over the edge of the sill again before she turned back to Dick, only to see him slip something out of his utility belt.

"Trust me," he said quickly, before leaping through the window and landing silently on the upper walkway, Reese following him inside a second later.

The guard who had just passed by the window was walking with his back to them, and Robin took him out swiftly, hitting the guard on the back of his neck, striking the trigger point, and making the guard fall to the floor, though Dick managed to catch him before he made a loud ' _crash_ '.

Hearing footsteps coming from behind them, Silverbird grabbed Robin and dragged him behind another pile of crates that was nearby, signaling Dick to be quiet just as another guard rounded the corner of the upper walkway.

Reese waited until the guard was a bit closer before she shot her arrow, and the arrow turned into a bola as it flew through the air, the wire wrapping around the guard and slamming him into the wall with enough force that he was knocked out.

"All clear?" Dick whispered after a couple more seconds, and after a moment to glance around, Reese nodded. "Good," Robin gave a solid nod before he reached into his utility belt again and pulled out two rebreathers, one of which he handed to Silverbird, and after a moment, she took it, giving Dick a dubious raised eyebrow.

"We planning on flooding the place?" she asked, but Dick just shook his head, sticking the rebreather in his mouth and standing up, walking over to the railing and staring down at the gathered guards.

Reese had no idea what Dick was planning, his ideas frequently confused her, but she followed him anyway, walking up to stand beside Robin as he stood at the railing, taking the rebreather out of his mouth and letting out one of his signature cackles.

The ten conscious guards that were milling about on the ground floor whipped around at the sudden noise, their faces bearing identical expressions of shock mixed with anger and confusion as they saw the two proteges standing above them.

"Don't you know it's wrong to steal from people?" Robin piped up, and just as the guards all pointed the guns at him and Silverbird, Dick reached into his utility belt again and took out what looked like one of his smoke bombs, holding it over the edge of the railing before he let go, and allowed the small ball to drop to the ground.

Green-tinted smoke billowed out when the smoke bomb exploded, and Reese followed Dick again as he stuck his rebreather back into his mouth and ran across the walkway, both of them avoiding the bullets shooting their way as Stagg's men fired their guns wildly through the warehouse.

Silverbird's eyes began to water as she and Robin bolted down a flight of stairs onto the ground floor of the warehouse, and Reese suddenly realized what Dick had thrown down into the fray, and why they were wearing their rebreathers.

Knockout gas.

Quick, effective, and as Silverbird leaped over the fallen form of one of the guards, very stealthy when wanting to get a mission over with quickly.

By the time the gas dissipated, the rest of the guards were unconscious, and Dick not-so-gently shoved one off of the table he had collapsed onto.

"You start looking through the crates," Robin piped up, glancing over his shoulder at Silverbird as she stepped carefully around each of the unconscious guards. "I'll bring these guys outside, tie them up with the others, and call GCPD to come and pick them up. No doubt they all have records,"

Reese nodded, and Dick grabbed a thug's shirt collar in each of his hands and began dragging them outside. It looked like slow work, but Dick managed, and as he went back and forth from the inside and outside of the warehouse, Reese walked along the side, trying to find something that would allow her to open the crates.

Finally, Silverbird found a crowbar leaning against a box in a corner, and she picked it up, walking back over to the crates just as Robin walked back into the warehouse from delivering the last thug outside.

"I'm going to call Batman," Dick spoke up after a moment, waving his hand in the air. "I'll tell him we found the stolen tech, and that Stagg was the one behind it,"

Reese tilted her head to the side, hair shifting over her shoulder. "Isn't Batman still on the Watchtower?" she asked, and Dick shrugged.

"Probably," he admitted. "But, I figured he'd want to know about this _now,_ instead of us telling him about it _later_ ,"

Silverbird just shrugged in agreement again as she walked over to the first crate, and Robin pulled up his holo-computer, placing his call to Batman.

But, as the metal bar cracked against the wooden planks of the crate's lid, and Reese tossed it off, her eyes widened as she saw what was inside.

Or rather, what _wasn't_ inside.

The crate was empty.

➳➳➳

"No other ideas?" Superman asked at the end of the meeting as he, Batman, and Wonder Woman stood in front of the rest of the Justice League. When no one said anything, Clark continued. "Then here are our candidates for new or _continued_ League membership,"

Batman opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the Watchtower's own holo-computer beeped, before a screen popped up, Robin's face showing up on it.

In the background, Green Arrow was able to see Reese, dressed as Silverbird, walking around whatever warehouse she and Dick were currently inside, fiddling with... _something_.

The archer supposed he should be feeling protective that Silverbird was--likely--alone with Robin wherever it was that they were, but he couldn't find it in himself to be.

No one would ever be good enough for Reese, but Oliver supposed that Dick Grayson...he came pretty close.

" _Hope we're not interrupting?"_ Robin asked after a moment, and the adult Leaguers, getting over the shock about whatever it was that the Boy Wonder was calling about, all turned towards Batman, who sighed for a moment before straightening up again to look at his protege.

"No," the Dark Knight answered simply. "What is it, Robin?"

" _Uh..._ " Dick trailed off for a moment, glancing over his shoulder at Reese before he turned back to face his screen. " _Silverbird and I figured out who robbed WayneTech_ ,"

"Somebody _robbed_ WayneTech?" Oliver exclaimed, glancing towards Bruce, but the only indication at all that Batman was phased was the slightest clenching of his jaw.

"Who?" Bruce asked finally, and Robin seemed to hesitate for a moment before he answered, though why that was, Oliver wasn't sure.

" _Simon Stagg_ ," Dick said after a second of contemplation, running his free hand through his hair before he continued. " _He paid someone off to steal the actual technology, but then he stashed the stolen tech in a warehouse at the docks--which is where Silverbird and I are now--and then he was going to come by and pick it up later_ ,"

"The tech's all there?" Batman asked, and Robin shrugged.

" _Reese is checking now_ ," he explained, but just then, Reese's own voice came from off-camera. Dick turned towards her, but whatever it was that Oliver's adopted daughter had said, it wasn't good, because Robin's mask lenses widened to the point they were almost full circles, and he gave a glance back towards his holo-screen. " _Uh...just a second_ ," he said quickly before the camera angle changed as if Dick was now holding his arm above his head.

" _The crates are empty,_ " Reese spoke again, and this time, everyone turned towards Batman, whose jaw, at this point, had clenched to the point that Green Arrow was sure his teeth would end up cracking.

" _What do you mean, they're_ _empty_?" Robin asked, and Oliver wasn't sure if Dick had forgotten to turn his holo-computer off or not. He also heard his daughter scoff from off-screen, and the blond man was pretty sure that Reese was giving Dick one of her "looks".

" _I mean_ \--," she began. " _I've checked almost every WayneTech crate that was in this plate, and the tech's not here. Stagg must've already come and picked it up himself_,"

"You said you checked _almost_ all of them?" Batman spoke up, and Robin moved his arm again so both he and Silverbird were now in view of his holo-screen. "What's in the ones you haven't?"

" _Well,_ " Reese began. " _I only have one crate left, but...I don't know, I get a bad feeling off of it,_ "

"Open it," Bruce said gruffly, and Oliver saw both Reese and Dick's eyes widen, and they glanced at each other for a moment before turning back to look at the holoscreen.

" _But--_ " Silverbird started, but Batman cut her off.

"Open it," he repeated, and Reese sighed, before picking up a crowbar and bracing the curved edge underneath the lip of the crate's lid.

The wood paneling of the crate cracked as Silverbird pushed the handle of the crowbar down, and once there was an opening big enough, she tore the crate's top off and peered inside.

Green Arrow was able to see the exact moment his daughter's entire body tense, and the holo-screen's camera angle shook for a moment as if Robin had tensed up as well.

" _Uh-oh_ ," the two proteges said in unison, and Oliver tensed up himself at the ominous undertones.

"What do you mean _uh-oh_?" he echoed. "What's going on?"

" _Uh..._ " Silverbird was the one who spoke, and Ollie was sure he wasn't the only one who heard her voice tremble as she ran a hand through her hair. " _So, Simon Stagg already got the prototypes_ ," she rushed out hurriedly. " _And he kind of...left something behind_ ,"

"Like what?" Batman asked grimly, and Robin tilted his holo-computer down so the Justice League would be able to see inside the crate, and when they did, everyone caught their breath for a few seconds.

Wrapped in what looked like four bundles of C-4, the bomb sat nestled in the sawdust that acted as a cushion for whatever had been in the crate previously, and a red light sat blinking above the timer.

A timer...that was currently counting down from ten.

"Get out of there!" Batman shouted, and both Dick and Reese bolted, Robin's holo-computer feed shaking as the beeping in the crate got louder.

Then, there was a loud and resounding ' _boom_ ', a cloud of fire erupted from the crate, and the feed cut out.

For several seconds after aboard the Watchtower, the Justice League was dead-silent, before Green Arrow rounded on Batman, his entire body trembling.

"You _told_ Reese to open that crate," Oliver growled, hands clenched so hard around the edge of the table that his fingers were close to breaking. "You _knew_ she had a bad feeling about it, but _you_ made her and Robin open it anyway. You just _killed_ my daughter!"

To his credit, Bruce looked shaken. _Everybody_ looked shaken, both at what had just happened and at Green Arrow's outburst.

"Arrow," Batman began slowly, and if anyone had been listening (everyone was), they would've heard the way the Dark Knight's voice shook. "I--"

"It was _your_ city, Batman," Oliver continued, stalking forward until he was close enough to Bruce that he was able to shove the vigilante backward, to which Batman didn't fight. " _Your_ company. You should've figured out Stagg was behind this _weeks ago_! But you _didn't_. Instead, Silverbird and Robin figured it out, and knowing the two of them, they wanted to get to the bottom of this and find the tech _themselves_ , to prove themselves to _you_. This isn't Stagg's fault, _Batman_ ," Green Arrow growled, using one finger to jab at the bat emblem splayed across the Dark Knight's chest. "It's _yours_ ,"

"Arrow," Oliver heard J'onn's voice come from behind him. The archer heard the Martian's voice, but he didn't process it, too wrapped up in his rage and grief to say anything in response. 

Instead, the blond man just stood in front of one of his oldest friends, eyes glaring at Bruce Wayne hard enough that, if looks could kill, Batman would be dead a dozen times over.

"Ollie," This time, Dinah spoke, and her voice was what snapped Oliver from his rant, and he turned to Black Canary, in time to see his girlfriend point towards the open center of the room where the holo-screens popped up, her blue eyes wide.

When Green Arrow turned around to see what Dinah was looking at, his breath caught in his throat.

Sometime between when the bomb had gone off in Gotham and now, a new holo-screen popped up. One that showcased both Robin _and_ Silverbird sitting there... _alive_ and blinking at the Justice League like a pair of curious owls as smoke billowed around in the background behind them.

"Uh..." Dick trailed off, and Oliver realized that he and Reese had probably just witnessed his temper blow up at Batman. _Great_. "Hi?"

➳➳➳

Reese and Dick managed to get out of the warehouse a second before the bomb went off, and Robin pulled Silverbird behind the corner of a nearby shipping container, both of them ducking down as the warehouse where Stagg had kept the empty WayneTech crates exploded.

Silverbird was able to feel the heat from the explosion as the bomb went off, and she clapped her hands over her ears as a loud ' _boom_ ' sounded...a really, _really_ loud ' _boom_ '.

Somewhere in the commotion, Robin had accidentally turned off his holo-computer, and as he and Reese crouched behind the shipping container, Dick began to fiddle with his glove, trying to re-establish the connection with the Justice League.

Who _knew_ what their mentors were thinking right now?

Robin flicked his eyes over to Silverbird as he worked, and his eyes widened as he saw Reese crouching beside him, eyes scrunched shut behind her mask and hands pressed over her ears.

_Crap_. 

The sound of the bomb going off was loud enough for _Dick_ , and he was sure his ears would be ringing for a day or two, but even though he and Reese were far enough away from the blast zone now that they wouldn't be physically hurt, the ' _boom_ ' would've been at least a _dozen_ times worse for Reese with her super-hearing.

Reaching forward, Robin set a hand on Silverbird's shoulder, and Reese jolted, her head snapping to the side almost ninety degrees as she turned to look at him.

"Are you okay?" Dick asked quietly, and when Reese blinked, something in his stomach dropped. "Rhysalin," he repeated, a little bit louder. "Are you _okay_?"

"Yeah," Silverbird murmured after a moment, finally taking her hands away from her ears and turning to look at him better. "Yeah, I'm okay,"

"Are you sure?" Robin asked, tilting his head around so he'd be able to see Reese's ears. Moving some of her hair out of the way, Dick peered at his girlfriend's ears.

They weren't bleeding, which was a good sign, and there were no signs of inflammation either. There was always the possibility, and likely scenario, that Reese's eardrums had been damaged by the sound of the bomb exploding, but for now, Robin couldn't see any immediate signs of damage, in either of Reese's ears, so he counted that as a plus.

"Stagg already moved the tech," Reese stated the obvious after a few minutes as she and Dick sat on the ground against the shipping container, their backs pressed against the metal exterior. "He probably left that bomb behind to take care of whoever came looking for it,"

"Yep," Robin agreed, still fiddling with his holo-glove before he glanced back at Silverbird. "You think Frank knew about the bomb?"

But, Reese only shook her head.

"No," she answered simply. "When we questioned him about the tech, he was genuinely apologetic. He felt guilt for robbing WayneTech in the first place, I don't think he'd be one to tip off Simon Stagg that we were coming. Plus, he doesn't know who we are. Superhero-wise, anyway,"

"Yeah," Dick admitted before he finally managed to re-establish his video feed on the Watchtower, his holo-screen enlarging so he and Reese would be able to see better.

And what they saw was _weird_. Not entirely uncommon, but just _weird_.

Green Arrow, Reese's dad, was standing nose-to-nose with Batman, and to say Oliver Queen looked angry would be a _gross_ understatement.

" _It's not Stagg's fault,_ _Batman_ ," Ollie was saying, his finger jabbing at the bat symbol on Bruce's chest. " _It's yours_ ,"

Dick and Reese both glanced at each other, the two slightly wondering what their mentors and father figures were arguing about when suddenly, Captain Marvel gasped.

" _Look_!" he exclaimed, pointing towards the holo-screen that had undoubtedly shown up above the League's meeting table when Robin had called, and the Justice League, except for Batman and Green Arrow, turned towards the holo-screen, eyes wide.

The older heroes' reaction was... _odd_ to say the least, but when Martian Manhunter tried to get Arrow's attention, it didn't work. Only Dinah was able to snap Oliver out of his tirade, and when the Emerald Archer turned towards the screen, his face paled, as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Uh..." Dick trailed off as he and Reese blinked at the holo-screen, before holding his free hand up in a timid wave. "Hi?"

" _You're alive_?" Green Arrow exclaimed, and from the corner of his eye, Robin saw Silverbird scrunch her eyebrows together.

"Did you think we _weren't_?" Reese asked, and as Oliver scrambled to say something, Dick thought he looked like a gasping fish.

" _When the warehouse exploded,_ " Superman began slowly. " _The feed cut out. We thought something had happened. We thought..._ "

Clark trailed off, but Dick and Reese were able to catch the gist of what the Kryptonian hero was saying. The Justice League looked like someone had just died because they had _actually_ thought that the both of them were dead.

"Yeah, that was my fault," Robin said quickly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "Silverbird and I ducked behind a shipping container to avoid the blast and I fell on my glove. Sorry,"

" _It's alright_ ," Batman said simply, and Dick and Reese glanced at each other again. Was it just them, or did Batman's voice just _tremble_? Batman's voice _never_ trembled. Maybe the League really _had_ thought they had died. " _We're all just glad you're okay_ ,"

"Wait," Robin snapped his head up as a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he glanced towards Silverbird. "If, uh... _you-know-who_ , wasn't the one who tipped off Stagg that we were heading to the warehouse, who did?"

Reese stared at him blankly for a few seconds, wondering who the hell it was that he was that Dick was talking about before her eyes widened.

Even though Frank Hurdle had been the one to physically _rob_ WayneTech, he wasn't the brains behind the operation, the bomb itself was proof enough of that, and Dick didn't want to throw his classmate under the metaphorical bus like that, especially considering the stress his family was under already.

" _Have you told anybody else about what the two of you are doing_?" Oliver asked, and Dick and Reese turned back to Robin's holo-screen. " _It could be someone else you've talked to_ ,"

"We haven't told anybody," Silverbird said. "The two of us didn't even discover who had really stolen the WayneTech technology until earlier this morning,"

"What if we were followed?" Dick asked quietly, glancing towards Reese, and she shrugged.

"Maybe," the brunette began. "Did you notice anyone following us earlier, though?"

Dick shook his head. "No," he answered honestly. "But, they might've covered their tracks. Maybe--"

He was abruptly cut off as Reese slapped her hand over his mouth, and when Robin flicked his eyes over to his girlfriend to see what exactly her deal was, Silverbird held one finger to her mouth, signaling him to be quiet.

Blasted eardrums or not, Reese's hearing was still more honed and enhanced than a regular human's, and whatever it was, she must've heard something.

"Call you later," Dick said quickly to the Justice League, before he hung up, shrinking his holo-screen down again and standing up, following after Reese as she stalked slowly along the side of the stacked up shipping containers between them, and the path that led out of the docks.

The two of them peered around the corner of one of the shipping containers, in time to see a black sedan park in the aisle a few rows across from where Robin and Silverbird were standing.

A bit suspicious, a car like that parking down at the docks in the middle of the day, but then again, this _was_ Gotham, so who knew what was going on?

All four doors of the sedan opened, and four people stepped out. Three of them were men, but the driver of the car was a woman; tall, with light blonde hair tied back into a neat bun on top of her head.

"No way..." Dick murmured from behind Reese's shoulder, and she glanced back at him.

"What is it?" she asked, and Robin nodded his head towards the woman.

"That's Frank Hurdle's _mom_ ," he muttered, and Silverbird's eyes widened. "That's Eliza Hurdle,"

"What's _she_ doing here?" Reese asked, but all Dick could do was shrug.

"Maybe Frank was lying?" he asked, but when Reese sent him a deadpan look, he backtracked. "Well, I don't _think_ he was, but maybe his mom's in on it too? From what I read up about her before we talked to Frank, she was the one who suffered the most after that whole parrot scandal,"

"Well, yeah, of course, she did," Silverbrid retorted. "It was her company that took the hit,"

"No, pretty bird, you don't understand," Robin responded as the two of them carefully began to slip through the shipping containers, following the path that Eliza and her goons had taken. "Eliza Hurdle's family came from old, _old_ money. She doesn't know anything less than the upper-class life,"

"So what happened after the JewelKiss scandal?" Reese asked as she peered around the corner of one shipping container, before turning down that way, Dick following after her.

"She _lost_ it," he explained, remembering what he had read about Eliza Hurdle. It had taken a bit of backdoor-hacking, but he wasn't called the Boy Wonder for nothing. "Eliza couldn't seem to fathom a life where she wasn't part of the upper crust, and from what few articles I could find about it, it looks like she had some sort of nervous breakdown. Even spent a few months in Arkham,"

"Spending time in Arkham would make _anyone_ go crazy," Reese muttered, before jerking to a stop between two aisles of shipping containers, spinning around and pressing her back to the metal, Dick following her lead a moment later.

Just then, voices reached Robin's ears, and he froze, even trying to regulate his breathing so his breaths wouldn't be too loud.

"We searched the wreckage, ma'am," a male voice said, and Dick assumed it had to be one of the goons that had come with Eliza. "There aren't any bodies,"

" _What_?" Eliza Hurdle's voice was shrill, like nails and a chalkboard, and it grated on Robin's ears as he and Silverbird continued to listen. "Even Batman himself wouldn't have been able to detect the device in time to escape from the blast of that bomb. How did two _sidekicks_ survive?"

Aside from the fact that he and Reese weren't _sidekicks_ (they were _proteges_ , get it _right_ , Eliza), what really caught Dick's attention was the fact that aside from the bomb being too smart (allegedly) for even Batman, the whole "unable to be detected" thing also made Robin perk up.

"What should we do, ma'am?" another of the thugs asked, and Dick heard Eliza hiss a breath out. Considering the woman and her goons were standing eight feet away, Robin was slightly impressed that he and Silverbird hadn't been discovered yet.

"Get the other guards," Eliza said finally, her voice sounding resigned. "Mr. Stagg still needs to figure out how to use Wayne's prototypes, and if those two _bird-brains_ really did survive the bomb, they'll no doubt be going to corporate headquarters next, considering that's where Stagg brought the prototypes after he picked them up from here. My son thought he was giving his family a better life. My son is _weak_ ,"

Regardless of whether he was a thief or not, Dick still felt bad for Frank, and he almost rounded the corner to confront Eliza about the things she was saying about her own son, but Reese clamped her hand around his wrist before the Boy Wonder could move, shaking her head at him.

Even though she didn't say anything, Robin had to admit that the brunette did, in fact, have a point. Likely, both Eliza _and_ the thugs she had brought along were armed, and even though the two of them had managed to defeat almost two dozen guards on their own earlier, that was under the cover of stealth, somewhat, and right now? They were vastly outnumbered.

Plus, they had just found out where the WayneTech prototypes actually were, rather than just walking into a trap like they had done here at the docks earlier.

Stagg Industries corporate headquarters. 

Easy-peasy.

➳➳➳

It was _not_ easy-peasy.

Well, getting into Stagg Industries, _that_ was easy. The building's security force and security measures were so severely lacking, Dick and Reese were able to bypass them easily.

What was _not_ the easy part was, even though Reese and Dick were inside the Stagg Industries building, and they both _knew_ the stolen WayneTech prototypes were here, they still had no idea where exactly to look.

So where were they, currently?

In the vent system. _Again_. Honestly, Reese was pretty sure she'd end up getting claustrophobic from how much time she was spending in air vents recently.

Deciding it would probably be easier to get around the crowded building (because Simon Stagg did not, in fact, give his employees Thanksgiving off, unlike Bruce Wayne) in civvies rather than their suits, the two of them had changed back into civilian clothes before entering the vents after they had left the docks.

Now, they were somewhere between the seventh and eighth floors, and Dick, from where he was crawling in front of Reese, suddenly spoke up as he pulled up the building schematics on his holo-watch.

"Okay," the Boy Wonder began, holding out his arm so Reese would be able to see the blueprints, and pointing to a particular spot with his other hand. "We're here. Now, Stagg Industries is no WayneTech in terms of secret research departments--"

Reese couldn't help it; she _had_ to laugh at that, and Dick flashed her a grin over his shoulder before continuing.

"--but, as best I can figure; if Simon Stagg was going to hide stolen high-end prototype technology _anywhere_ in this building, he'd hide it here,"

When Reese saw where her boyfriend was pointing, she quirked an eyebrow, tilted her head, and sent Dick a confused look as she studied the building holographic blueprints.

"The _laundry room_?" she echoed, her voice echoing slightly in the vent, and both her and Dick froze for a moment before Reese spoke again, her voice a few octaves lower than it had been. "Why would Stagg hide stolen prototypes in a laundry room? Better question, why does this building _have_ a laundry room?"

"It's not _actually_ a laundry room," Dick began as he and Reese started to crawl again, with Dick following the building's schematics as he figured out which way the two of them would need to go. "I'm pretty sure Stagg's _'laundry room'_ is really code for his own personal R&D secret department. I'll know more once we actually get there. We're close though, so it shouldn't take long,"

Suddenly, Reese's head buzzed, and she lurched forward, locking her hands around Dick's ankle just as the bottom of the vent he had been crawling through broke off, falling who knows how many feet down into a vertical chute, the metal grate clanging against the sides of the chute as it went.

Dick locked his fingers onto the edge of the vent across from the new hole, and he stretched, only just managing to scramble up onto the opposite side, though his feet scraped against the side of the vent for a few seconds before he made it to the other side, turning around to face Reese once he was stable.

"If my schematics are right," Dick began again, glancing at his holo-screen once before flicking his dark blue eyes back up to Reese. "The laundry room is at the bottom of this chute,"

"You can't be serious," Reese muttered, peering over the edge of the vent into the chute once, but scooted back a moment later, clenching her eyes shut and locking her own fingers around the edge of the vent in a white-knuckled grip. 

The chute was _at least_ \--from what Reese could see of it--seventy feet long, and considering there weren't a lot of lights in the vent system, the chute slid into shadows the deeper it went.

"Pretty bird," Dick said, his gaze turning sympathetic. "It's the only way to get down there without being detected,"

To say Reese was still dubious would be an understatement, but considering she didn't really have any other options, she opened her eyes again and looked (carefully) down the chute.

Taking a deep breath, Reese glanced up, only to see Dick stick the base of his grappler against the side of the chute, holding his free hand out to her a moment later.

"Rhysalin, I _promise_ ," he told her. "I won't let you fall,"

Slowly, Reese put her hand in his, and slowly, Dick braced himself against the side of the chute, shifted his free arm so it was wrapped around Reese's waist instead, and let go of the grappler's release, allowing the grappling line to begin to lower the two of them down the chute.

At this point, Reese was basically hanging off Dick like a koala, her legs locked around his waist and her arms looped around his neck, though she wasn't holding on hard enough that she'd choke him. 

All Reese cared about at the moment was Dick's hand on his grappler. If he let go for any reason, they'd fall, and go down the chute how many feet to the bottom, likely ending up going ' _splat'_. And Reese, very much, did not want to go ' _splat'_.

"You okay?" Dick whispered after a few seconds, and Reese shook her head, eyes shut. Regardless of whether or not it was pitch-black inside the vent chute, she still knew that there was a long, _long_ way until they got to the bottom.

She really, _really_ didn't like heights.

"No," she murmured finally, opening her eyes a sliver and Reese heard Dick sigh, his shoulders tensing.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "If there was any other way to get to the tech--"

"It's okay," Reese muttered. _It wasn't_. "Not your fault,"

Reese was 80% sure that Dick didn't believe her, but he didn't say anything else. Finally, after about ten minutes of the two of them slowly descending down the chute, Reese opened her eyes a little bit further when she noticed a light appear below Dick's feet.

Her boyfriend, apparently, noticed it as well, because he glanced downward. A second later, Dick let a little slack go into his grappling line, and he and Reese started to descend a little faster.

Not too fast, because if Dick did that Reese would probably kill him, but fast enough that the two of them landed with a thud on either side of a metal grate in a horizontal vent at the bottom of the chute, the grate looking down into a brightly lit room, a room that Reese assumed was probably the ' _laundry room_ '.

But, to say she was relieved that the chute had ended would be an understatement. 

Once Dick had retracted his grappling line, the base almost hitting him in the head when it fell down the chute, he and Reese peered through the metal grate.

Directly underneath them looked to be a cart full of fluffy towels, and Reese began to think that maybe this really _was_ a laundry room. But, regardless, she and Dick still needed to check it out. Because, if the stolen tech wasn't _here,_ where else could it be?

So, after Dick had made sure that there wasn't anyone in the room (a fact that was slightly surprising), he hooked his fingers between the slats on the grate and lifted it up into the vent, setting it behind him.

Then, he and Reese stared down at the cart, before, after a couple of seconds, Dick glanced up at the brunette in front of him.

"Ladies first?" he asked, and Reese sent him a deadpan look.

"The gap's big enough for both of us," she told him. "We go together,"

Considering the vent wasn't tall enough for either of them to stand completely straight, Dick and Reese both moved into crouching positions, before simultaneously jumping down into the cart of towels.

A cart of towels that, as Reese slammed her diaphragm into something very, _very_ hard, was decidedly not _only_ filled with towels. She heard Dick let out a grunt as he landed next to her, and considering the vent was a good eight feet above the cart, neither of their landings had been painless.

Reese twisted onto her back as she caught her breath, the wind knocked completely out of her, and after a couple of seconds where she _literally_ couldn't breathe, Reese let out a wheezing sigh, sitting up on whatever it was that she had landed on and turning her head to where Dick was lying on his stomach next to her a foot away.

"Ow," he muttered, coughing a bit before he sat back on his heels, glancing over at her. "You okay?"

"Fine," Reese said after a moment, rubbing her side before she quirked an eyebrow. "You?"

"Feeling whelmed," Dick grinned, before he started to dig through the towels, trying to find whatever it was that he and Reese had landed on, his grin growing wider as he saw what was underneath the top layer of towels. " _Yes_!"

Reese scooted over to see what had gotten Dick so excited, and when she saw what her boyfriend was looking at, Reese grew a smile herself.

Underneath the top layer of towels sat a pile of small boxes, each stamped with a light-gray stylized ' _W'._

The WayneTech logo.

_Finally,_ they had found the stolen prototypes. Even if it was totally by accident, Reese was honestly just glad she and Dick hadn't broken any of them when they'd, quite literally, fallen on top of them.

But, before either of them could move, Reese froze as, from outside the surprisingly large laundry room, she heard something. That something being footsteps.

" _Hide_ ," she hissed quickly, and Dick stared at her, eyes wide.

"Where?" he retorted. The footsteps were getting closer, and Reese realized that she and Dick _really_ didn't have a lot of time. 

And if they were discovered _here_ , two foster/adoptive kids of billionaires sitting on top of stolen technology inside Stagg Industries's laundry room? To say that they would have a lot of explaining to do would be a _gross_ understatement.

"The cart," Reese whispered as she saw several shadows appear through the laundry room's door's window. "We can hide under the towels,"

For once, Reese was glad of her small size. If Wally was with them, even though the speedster wasn't particularly tall, he wouldn't have been able to fold himself in such a way that he wouldn't be noticeable. Reese and Dick, on the other hand, with the combination of their small size and general flexibility, were both able to shimmy down further into the cart just as Reese heard the door open, and Dick pulled several towels over them so they were out of sight just as voices reached them.

"Any word from Eliza?" a male voice asked, and when Reese glanced over at Dick, he mouthed one word to her.

' _Stagg.'_

"No sir," another voice said, and Reese assumed it was one of Simon Stagg's employees. "She and the guys are still searching the docks for those two sidekicks,"

Reese, despite the potentially perilous situation, couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes, and after a glance at Dick, she saw him looking fairly annoyed himself.

"She needs to _find them_ ," Stagg hissed again, and suddenly, the towels above Reese's head shifted as someone began to move them out of the way.

She opened her mouth, but Dick covered it with his hand before Reese could make a sound, tugging her back until she was pressed against him, and both birds froze for several seconds as the towels continued to move.

But, just as light from the overheads began to leak through the other towels still covering the cart and stolen prototypes, the towels stopped moving, and Reese heard Dick let out a breath from behind her as Stagg spoke up again.

"We've managed to get away with this theft for almost a month, and Batman was none the wiser. What did two _children_ figure out that the Dark Knight himself couldn't?"

It was silent for a couple of seconds before the employee spoke again, sounding remarkably meek and soft-spoken.

"I, uh, I don't know sir," the employee said quietly, and Stagg snapped at them.

"Send _everyone_!" he exclaimed. "Those two need to be found before this entire operation goes up in smoke!"

"Y-Yes, sir," the employee stammered out, and then Reese heard a scurrying sound, and she assumed the employee had just exited the room, leaving Stagg alone.

The older businessman was muttering to himself, quiet enough that even Reese wasn't even able to hear or understand what he was saying, but she wasn't sure she'd even hear what he was saying normally, not over the sound of her and Dick's heartbeats, or the blood that was currently rushing through Reese's head.

Now that Stagg was alone, there was even a higher chance of her and Dick getting caught, so Reese was pretty sure both of them were holding their breath.

Suddenly, from behind her, Reese felt Dick shift, before both of his arms were held out in front of her, and Dick pulled up a holo-screen from his glove, holding it in front of Reese and setting his chin on her shoulder so they'd both be able to see it. 

The slight blue glow was pretty bright in the small, dark, bubble-like alcove that Dick and Reese had made for themselves underneath the towels, but hopefully, it wasn't bright enough that Stagg found them.

Reese recognized the holo-screen that Dick had pulled up as the schematics of the Stagg Industries building that he had been using earlier while they were in the vents.

With his right hand, Dick silently pointed to a spot on the blueprints, where two small dots sat, and Reese assumed that was the two of them. Then, he moved his index finger to another spot a little way over, and in morse code, tapped out ' _exit'_ on Reese's knee.

Okay, that was good. They were pretty close to the outside, ironically, and all they had to do now was get the prototypes out of Stagg Industries and back to WayneTech before they were caught, by Eliza, Stagg himself, _or_ anyone else.

No pressure.

Finally, Reese heard Stagg walk out of the laundry room, still muttering to himself, and once she was absolutely sure that he was gone, Reese stood up and climbed out of the cart, Dick following a second later.

"What's your plan?" Reese whispered after they had both stretched their legs after being curled up in a cart for the last fifteen minutes, and as he cracked his back, Dick pulled up his holo-screen again, this time of a map of Gotham City.

"Okay," he began, pointing to various spots on the map. "There's a zeta tube just across the street from this building. We get to the tube, zeta to the Batcave, then tell Batman that we _actually_ found the real prototypes, instead of an ambush, like at the docks,"

"What do we have to do to get out of _here_?" Reese asked, her voice hushed. "You heard Stagg, Dick. He's sending all of his goons or whatever out to look for _us_. No doubt they'll be swarming the hallways. _And_ we'll be ambushed again if we take an elevator,"

"Ah, but you forget, pretty bird," Dick said, holding a finger in the air. "His guards are looking for the two sidekicks who got away from his blown-up warehouse, i.e. Robin and Silverbird. Who they're _not_ looking for, is Dick Grayson and Rhysalin Queen,"

➳➳➳

Reese poked her head around a corner, and when she was sure that the coast was clear, signaled to Dick behind her back.

Getting the cart full of prototypes out of the laundry room was surprisingly easy. And so far, as the two of them crept down the hallway towards the side exit that Dick had indicated earlier on his holo-screen, they hadn't seen anybody who looked to be hunting their alter-egos.

Of course, Reese said _so far_ , because just as the door with a red ' _exit'_ sign glowing above it was in sight, she heard an exclamation from behind, and both Reese and Dick whipped around, to see four people (two men, two women), all staring at them and pointing.

"Hey!" One of the women shouted. "What do you kids think you're doing?"

As Reese shared a swift glance with Dick, a look that conveyed that, mutually, they each weren't going to tell any of Stagg's employees what they were up to, both birds bolted down the hallway, and with another sparing look over her shoulder, Reese winced as she saw the four employees begin to give chase.

Her eyes landed on a fire alarm, that was a few feet away, and as she ran past it, Reese pulled down the handle, the siren beginning to blare through the building as office doors all along the hallway burst open as people began to rush through the corridors to the exit, fortunately blocking off Dick and Reese from their pursuers.

"Nice!" Dick shouted to her over the screaming siren, and even though her ears were ringing from the noise, Reese sent him a smile.

But, as the two of them finally got to the door, Dick and Reese ran into a problem. A very, very big problem.

The cart wouldn't fit. No matter how much the two of them pushed, the cart of prototypes was just too wide, and the people chasing them were getting closer.

"Get in the cart!" Dick shouted suddenly, and Reese whipped her head around to look at him.

"What?" she asked, but Dick had already grabbed onto the edge of the cart.

"Trust me!" he said, and though Reese still had no idea what he was planning, she leaped in the cart, and turned around in time to see Dick back up.

For a split-second moment, Reese thought that Dick was going to stay behind, sacrifice himself or something like that, but he didn't. Instead, the Boy Wonder took a deep breath, before he ran, slamming his shoulder into the side of the cart hard enough that it burst out the doorway, and just as it cleared the threshold, he leaped in beside Reese.

The people that had been chasing them reached the doorway just as the cart exited it, and one of the men kicked the cart, jolting it, but luckily, it didn't stop. If anything, the cart started to go faster.

The Stagg Industries employees that had gathered on the sidewalk after Reese had given them all an impulsive and impromptu fire drill dove out of the way as the cart careened out the door and Reese thought she and Dick may have jumped the gun a little bit, as instead of slowing to a stop once they were outside the building, the cart jumped the curb onto the crowded Gotham street.

"Tell me this wasn't part of the plan!" Reese cried out as cars and other vehicles swerved around the wildly moving cart, and she felt Dick clamp his hand down over hers.

"Nope!" he shouted back, and somehow, through some miracle, they weren't hit by a car. Instead, the cart jumped the curb again on the other side of the street into an alleyway between two buildings, and Reese saw that they were heading straight towards a dumpster at the end of the alley.

" _Please_ tell me that's the zeta tube!" Reese shouted again because she did _not_ want to end up landing in a dumpster (ew) but this time, Dick didn't answer her. At least, not directly.

Instead, he whipped around to look over his shoulder, and when Reese turned to look as well, she saw that their pursuers were now trying to weave between the askew cars that were gathered on the street after Reese and Dick had first blown through them.

She was also pretty sure they might have caused a minor car accident, judging from the two civilians yelling at each other. _Oops_.

"Override!" Dick shouted, turning back around as the dumpster got closer. "RG-04!"

The dumpster was suddenly lowered into the ground, and the telltale yellowish glow of a zeta tube showed up instead.

**_Recognized Robin B-0-1, Silverbird B-0-3_ **

Just as they made it into the Batcave, the still-speeding cart slammed into the rail that encircled the small platform in front of the cave's tube, and both Dick and Reese went flying.

They were thrown clean out of the cart, sprawling on the stone floor of the Batcave among boxes of the WayneTech prototypes that had been tossed from the cart as well, and for a few seconds, Reese and Dick just lay there on their backs, stunned.

Reese was the one who started to laugh first, and a moment later, Dick joined her. 

Today, this weird, amazing, _odd_ day, had gone absolutely _insane_. So much had happened, and in Star City time, it was just barely inching past lunchtime.

"Should we see if Alfred has any food?" Dick asked a few minutes later once the giggles had finally subsided, and Reese gave a short laugh again, sitting up from her spot on the floor.

"You think he'd actually give us anything?" she asked, but Dick just waved a hand, stifling a yawn. "I thought he kicked you out of the house this morning,"

"Psh," he scoffed as he and Reese started to walk up the stairs towards Wayne Manor, Reese covering her own yawn with a hand as they went. "That was just so I didn't end up burning down the house while he was making dinner. He probably has some turkey-shaped cookies or something if we ask nicely,"

"Today was _weird_ ," Reese muttered as she and Dick exited the grandfather clock and stepped into the manor, but she paused when Dick stopped in front of her.

"It wasn't all bad though, was it?" he asked, blue eyes twinkling, and Reese smiled before leaned forward and kissed him again (kiss number _five_!).

"No," she said softly a moment later. "It wasn't all bad,"

Dick grinned before he grabbed Reese's hand in his and led her out of the room where the grandfather clock was located and towards the kitchen.

The house smelled absolutely _amazing_ , and as they entered the kitchen, both birds saw Alfred leaning down and pulling what looked like a pie out of the oven.

"Hey, Alfred," Dick piped up a moment later, and the British butler turned towards them as he set the pie down on a nearby cooling rack.

"Master Dick, Miss Reese," he greeted them. Dick was _still_ the only person who ever called Reese by her full name. "Whatever brings you here?"

"Well," Dick began as he and Reese sat on separate stools in front of the counter where a whole smorgasbord of food sat, waiting for dinner later that evening. "I live here. And two: we were wondering if you had any snacks,"

"As a matter of fact," Alfred started, turning around for a moment and grabbing a plate of cookies that were indeed shaped like gobble-birds. "I do,"

When the butler turned back around though to where Dick and Reese were sitting, he stopped speaking and gave a smile.

The young Boy Wonder had leaned his head against his arm on the counter, out of the way of any of the food dishes, and was fast asleep. The brunette next to him had leaned _her_ head against his shoulder and had fallen to dreamland as well.

Alfred set the platter of cookies down onto the opposite counter and smiled again. He didn't know what the two young heroes had gotten up to today, but whatever it was, they were fully exhausted from it.

But, the British butler didn't wake either of the two as he turned back to continue making dinner. Regardless, and considering the sleep schedule in _this_ house, he was sure both of them could use a much-needed rest.

➳➳➳

The sun was beginning to set when Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen, and Dinah Lance entered Wayne Manor after the Justice League's meeting concluded, and as the three older heroes walked into the main house, Oliver having gotten a call from Alfred earlier that afternoon saying that Reese was here, Dinah suddenly drove her elbow into the blond archer's ribs.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, wincing as he rubbed the spot. "What?"

But, Dinah didn't say anything. Instead, she just jerked her head in front of Ollie, towards where Bruce was walking silently.

Oliver winced, as he remembered the big blow-out he'd had at Batman earlier that day. Now that he knew that Reese wasn't really dead, he felt a bit bad for blowing up at the Dark Knight as he had, but really, he didn't know how to begin to apologize to the other vigilante.

"Uh, Bruce?" he said finally, and the other man let out an acknowledging hum. "I'm, uh, _sorry_..." Oliver managed to force the word out. "For earlier. After the warehouse exploded. I didn't mean to say those things to you,"

"You did," Bruce retorted simply, glancing over his shoulder as the three paused in an adjoining hallway. "Your reaction was perfectly valid, given the fact that you thought your adoptive daughter was dead. I felt the same way,"

"You didn't show it," Oliver observed, tilting his head, but Bruce only glanced at the archer over his shoulder, giving a small smirk.

"I have better control over my emotions than you," he muttered, and Ollie nodded, before realizing what the Gothamite had said.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, and Oliver heard Dinah let out a laugh from beside him, before Alfred stepped into the hallway, joining them.

"I would advise you all to refrain from being _too_ loud," the British butler began, before gesturing for them to follow with one hand. "Come and see,"

All three of the Justice Leaguers were fairly confused, even though Bruce hid it the most. Regardless, they all followed Alfred into Wayne Manor's kitchen, where they were met with a sight that wasn't all too uncommon, considering.

Dick and Reese were leaning against each other on the counter, fast asleep, and judging from what Alfred told them next, they'd both been asleep for hours.

"What did they _do_ today?" Oliver whispered, and Bruce crossed his arms over his sweater.

"Judging from the mess of WayneTech prototypes in the Batcave and the crushed laundry cart," the Dark Knight began. " _And_ the call Batman got from GCPD about an ' _anonymous_ ' tip saying Simon Stagg was the one behind the robbery..."

"They were detectives," Dinah said quietly, and as the three stared down at their sleeping proteges, they all grinned.

Even Bruce cracked a small smile.

Detectives indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHH it finally happened! Dick and Reese kissed and honestly, I was not planning on them kissing the way they did, but I hope you liked it! I wrote that first kiss while listening to Reflection by Christina Aguilera (which is actually in my Disalyn Spotify playlist), and it's a song I think describes Reese's personality pretty well.


End file.
